Pitcher of the Week: Micah Dallas

Following Friday’s disappointing loss in extra innings to Oklahoma, Texas Tech needed a shutdown effort from its Saturday ace. Micah Dallas delivered, just as he did in the earlier conference series against Texas and Baylor. In six innings of work against the Sooners, Micah posted eight strikeouts and allowed only one run. Perhaps more importantly, Dallas came out firing, retiring Oklahoma in order in the first inning and only allowing one hit in the second inning. Both innings ended with strikeouts to demoralize the Sooners.

By the time Dallas took the mound in the third inning, Tech had built up a comfortable 8-0 lead. For a moment, it looked like the Sooners might have a chance to climb back in it by opening the inning with a pair of walks, but a strikeout, a flyout, and the third-straight inning-ending strikeout ended the Oklahoma threat. The Sooners would get two singles in the fourth inning, but a double play followed by Dallas making it 4-4 on strikeouts to sit down the side kept his clean sheet going. The only mark on Dallas’ day would come in the fifth. A single and a wild pitch moved a Sooner in scoring position. Dallas put together back-to-back strikeouts and looked like he might get out unscathed once again, but an Oklahoma single plated their first run, but Tech still held a 9-1 lead heading into the sixth inning.

Oklahoma began their half of the sixth inning with a double, but Dallas struck out another sooner batter and earned a fly out and a pop out. The Texas Tech bats got hot in the top of the seventh inning, and the game was a 15-1 rout when Tim Tadlock decided to pull Dallas. Tadlock chose Connor Queen to close things out and Dallas’ day ended at 79 pitches and a 1.50 ERA in a game that was already decided. Micah Dallas deserves a tip of the cap for another strong performance in a clutch situation to keep the Red Raiders firmly in the mix for a national seed, and he has cemented his status as one of Tech’s best arms as a terrific weekend starter.