Red Raiders Welcome North Dakota State

After a slight change in schedule, the Red Raiders are ready to welcome the North Dakota State Bison to Lubbock for a weekend non-conference series. The Bison come to Lubbock with a 7-20 season record and a 4-2 conference record.

Pitching

Friday’s matchup will be RHP Brendan Girton (4.83 ERA) for the Red Raiders and RHP Cad Feeney (5.91 ERA) for the Bison. Feeney has 35.0 innings over six appearances for the Bison recording 42 strikeouts while allowing 46 hits, 27 runs, 4 home runs, and 7 walks. The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader will feature LHP Mason Molina (4.37 ERA) for the Red Raiders and RHP Tristen Roehrich (4.82 ERA) for the Bison. Roehrich starts the series with 37.1 innings over 7 appearances, allowing 39 hits, 22 runs, 4 home runs, and 16 walks while recording 44 strikeouts. The second game of the doubleheader will open with RHP Trendan Parish (4.97 ERA) for the Red Raiders and RHP Parker Puetz (3.68 ERA) for the Bison. Puetz starts the series with 22.0 innings in 8 appearances for the Bison, allowing 16 hits, 11 runs, 3 home runs, and 9 walks while recording 18 strikeouts. 

Batting

North Dakota State has just two batters currently batting over .300, Peter Brookshaw (.319 AVG) and Terrell Huggins (.306 AVG). Brookshaw leads the Bison in hits (36), runs (23), and home runs (9). Jack Steil (.277 AVG) leads the Bison in walks this season with 19. 

This series should be, for all intents and purposes, a confidence boost for the Red Raiders before they head to California where they take on No. 8 Stanford on Monday and continue conference play in Norman against OU this coming weekend. The Red Raiders will need to continue to be an offensive force at the plate and so long as the pitching can come alive this series should be one the Red Raiders can take away. Tech also enters this series with a full week’s rest after the postponement of the midweek game against ACU.