Feb. 1, 2003

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas - Senior pitcher Dusty Buck tallied a career-high seven strikeouts and junior first baseman Doug Beck went 3-for-4 with four RBI to pace the Texas Tech Red Raiders to a 10-1 win over the visiting New Mexico Lobos on Saturday afternoon in front of 3,257 fans at Dan Law Field.

Texas Tech (2-0) improves to 2-0 on the season while New Mexico falls to 0-2.

Prior to the game, Texas Tech paid tribute to the seven fallen crew members of Space Shuttle Columbia. The shuttle commander Col. Rick Husband of Amarillo, Texas, was a 1980 graduate of Texas Tech. Shuttle pilot Willie McCool is a Lubbock native and graduated from Lubbock Coronado High School in 1979. A special recognition service and moment of silence was held in their memory.

Junior designated hitter Evan Shahak made a big splash in his first appearance of the season when he delivered a fastball over the leftfield fence to give Texas Tech a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

Texas Tech pushed its lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Shahak plated Doug Beck with his second RBI of the game when he dropped a single into left field.

Senior pitcher Dusty Buck retired 10 consecutive batters through the middle innings and the Texas Tech defense kept the Lobos off the field with perfect defense to protect the 2-0 lead. New Mexico, however, would chase off Buck in the seventh as the Lobos plated their only run of the game in the top of the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Robert Lacheur and Joe Salas to lead off the inning. Tech reliever Steven Thomas got the Red Raiders out of a jam and prevented New Mexico from tying the game as he turned the double play ball on chopper back to the mound by Lobo Mike Svetlic.

The Red Raiders put the game out of reach over the next two innings as the offense pounded out eight runs on six hits and two New Mexico errors.

Sophomore catcher Cooper Fouts led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the right field line and second baseman Josh Haney brought him home on a double that bounced off the "monster" in centerfield. Junior first baseman Doug Beck picked up his first of four RBI with a single and the Red Raiders plated a run on a New Mexico pitching error and an RBI groundout by junior rightfielder Brent Fossum.

Beck got things going for the Red Raiders again in the bottom of the eighth when he delivered a bases-loaded triple to right field to push Tech's lead to 9-1. Beck would later score on a wild pitch by Lobo reliever Adrian Soto to give the Red Raiders a nine-run lead heading into the top of the ninth.

Senior right-hander Dusty Buck (1-0) picked up the win for the Red Raiders after tossing seven innings allowing just three hits along with seven strikeouts. New Mexico starter Chad Giannetti was tagged with the loss after surrendering six hits and two earned runs through five innings of work.

Texas Tech will go for the series sweep over New Mexico on Sunday afternoon when the teams wrap up the three-game series at 1 p.m. at Dan Law Field.