March 23, 2004

Box Score

MIDLAND, Texas - Senior third baseman and Midland native Josh Haney hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to give Texas Tech a 12-11 win over the Houston Cougars in front of 5,463 fans at the First American Bank Ballpark.

Houston (8-15) stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first innings as the Cougars rocked Tech starter John Milton for four runs on three hits. Patrick Breen delivered the biggest blow to Milton when he hit a three-run triple to left-center field. Adam Fry came in to relieve Milton and recorded three outs in the inning to end the Cougar threat.

Texas Tech (16-7) did some damage of its own in the bottom half of the first as the Red Raiders tied the game by scoring four runs on five hits. Jose Delgado led off the game with double to left center field and first time designated hitter Dallas Braden scored Delgado with a double down the left field line. Braden, a member of Tech's starting weekend pitching rotation, became the first true pitcher to get a hit in a ballgame since Jimmy Frush in 1996 against Southern California in the NCAA Regionals. Junior center fielder Michael Mask followed Braden with a two-run home run that bounced over the left field fence, cutting the Cougar lead to 4-3. Junior first baseman Josh Brady then crushed a solo home run over the left field wall to tie the score at 4-4.

Junior first baseman Matthew Coco gave Tech a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the third when he hit a two run home run over the wall in left-center field. The home run was his third of the season.

Tech took a 9-7 lead in the bottom of the fifth as Brady and Haney each walked and Ryan Andrews plated the first run of the inning with an RBI single. Andrews later scored on an RBI groundout by Madison Edwards.

Junior catcher Cooper Fouts hit a bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh that scored two more runs to push the Tech lead to 11-7.

Houston came back and tied the game in the top of the ninth as the Cougars got an RBI triple from Patrick Breen, an RBI single from Rob Johnson and the game-tying RBI single from pinch hitter Thanos Papvasiliou.

Josh Haney gave Tech the walk off win as he belted a solo home run over the center field wall on a 2-0 fastball from reliever Brandon Roznovsky.

Steve Gooch (3-0) picked his third win of the season for Texas Tech after just pitching the final 2/3 of the ninth. Brandon Roznovsky suffered the loss for Houston and fell to 1-1.

Texas Tech will open Big 12 Conference play on Friday night as the Red Raiders travel to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. First pitch from Olsen Field is set for 7 p.m.

NOTES