The road woes continue for Texas Tech Baseball . . .
After a frustrating Friday night, where Texas Tech squandered chances at the plate and then had three walks and bloop to lose in the 9th to Kansas, Saturday followed an all-too familiar script.
Texas Tech up early with a 2-0 lead and then they quit scoring. And then they quit pitching. And then they got beat 11-2. It was, as it has been on the road, a group effort. No single thing from situational hitting to pitching or even fielding getting Tech beat. It was a mash-mash of all those baseball sins that doomed Tech on the road. Again…
Before we go any further, our prayers are with Tech catcher Dylan Maxcey who took a pitch off his head today and had to be transported to a local hospital. As we write this, we have no updates. Follow us on Twitter for more on that tonight and into tomorrow. It was a scary scene.
Now, here’s a few quick things about the harsh reality of now.
- Texas Tech Baseball can pretty much kiss a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament good-bye with a series loss at KU. If they get swept, you begin to bring into play missing the Tournament altogether, but I don’t think that will happen. They’ll limp in as a 3-seed most likely right now. You just hope you don’t limp in to College Station. Anywhere else you might get lucky. This year, it won’t happen at Texas A&M.
- The amount of injuries Texas Tech has dealt with shouldn’t be thrown away by Texas Tech fans as excuse making. It’s real. From Zane Petty to Owen Washburn, Austin Green now this weekend and several others, this team has been bled to death by paper cuts and mosquito bites. Is it the MAIN reason for some of the struggles? No. Has it hampered this team? Yes.
- Texas Tech doesn’t have a clutch player. There. We said it. Hate to say it, but there’s not a single hitter or a single pitcher you can tell me you want up in a high-leverage situation right now to win you a game. Some teams never come around on that front and this Texas Tech team is one of them. Lots of talent, for sure. But, no one has taken control of this team, made it their own and said, “Jump on my back and let’s go!”.
- Most years, a Tim Tadlock team is defining roles at this time of the season. They’re establishing a go-to lineup and a solid rotation with defined bullpen roles. This isn’t one of those teams. Obviously. We have more questions today at the end of April than we’ve seen a Tech team in many years. The spots are there. No one has claimed them. Again, going back to #3…this team belongs to nobody.
- The Big 12 has some pretty good teams, a few good teams and then a lot of average teams. This is a down year for the league and as of now, I don’t see a team that has built the resume to host a regional. At least one will, most likely Oklahoma State, but that will only be because they win the league. Otherwise, you’d be looking at a ton of 2 and 3 seeds from the league. That said, I think when you get past Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kentucky and maybe Tennessee, there aren’t a lot of high-level teams out there nationally. The tournament is gonna be a crap-shoot other than the A&M regional in my opinion. So, just get in it and see what happens. Right now, Texas Tech is gonna have to show a lot more grit if they want to make sure they’re in it. Baseball. This is why we love it. #27Outs.
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Hyatt
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