March 17, 2006

Box Score |  Notes

LUBBOCK, Texas - Carson Kainer's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the top of the nighth led No. 16 Texas to a 4-3 win over Texas Tech in the Big 12 opener for both teams on Friday evening at Dan Law Field.

Tech reliever Randy Gattis hit two Texas batters in the top of the ninth and that forced pitching coach Lance Brown to go back to the bullpen in favor of left-hander Colt Hynes. Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, Hynes walked the first batter he faced to load the bases and brought up left fielder Carson Kainer. Kainer plated the game winning run with a fly ball to right field and allowed Chais Fuller to score easily from third.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, senior center fielder Brian Capps came up big with two outs when he belted a single up the middle. Capps' hard-hit grounder allowed Blair Wilkins to score from third and an errant throw from Longhorn second baseman Clay Van Hook allowed Willie Rueda to score the tying run from second.

Texas Tech (16-7; 0-1) drew first blood in the game when Roger Kieschnick delivered an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Kieschnick's RBI single scored Brian Capps who drew a leadoff single and moved into scoring position on a groundout by Matt Smith.

The Longhorns took their first lead of the game in the top of the fifth scoring three runs on four hits. Texas got three doubles in the inning including a two-RBI double from Kainer that went sailing down the left field line.

Randy Gattis (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season as he hit two batters in the top of the ninth and lasted just 1/3 of an inning. Austin Wood picked up the win in relief of Adrian Alaniz while Ken Kasparek earned his third save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Texas Tech will try and even this three-game series on Saturday afternoon when the two teams get together for a 2 p.m. first pitch. The Red Raiders will start redshirt freshman right-hander Miles Morgan while Texas will counter with junior right-hander Kyle McCulloch.