April 16, 2002

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas - New Mexico reliever Joe Salas walked in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to give the Texas Tech Red Raiders a 6-5 win over the Lobos on Tuesday night at Dan Law Field.

With the win, Texas Tech improves to 28-16 on the season while New Mexico falls to 17-23.

With New Mexico leading 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Raider took advantage of four walks by New Mexico pitcher Kevin Letz and scored two runs to tie the game. Freshman right fielder Madison Edwards gave Tech a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth when he connected on his first career home run, a two-run blast over the right field fence.

New Mexico tied the game in the top of the seventh as the Lobos tagged Tech reliever Chris Phillips with two runs on three hits.

Tech scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth after Lobo reliever Aaron Smith loaded the bases on a single by Nick Blankenship and walks by Austin Cranford and Bryon Smith. Right fielder Joe Salas came into pitch for Smith in the inning and walked in the winning run by sending Jake Brown to first and Nick Blankenship home.

Chris Phillips picked up the win in relief for Texas Tech and improved to 5-3 on the season. Steve Rowe picked up his sixth save of the season after allowing just one hit in the ninth with a strikeout and a double play. Aaron Smith suffered the loss for New Mexico and falls to 1-3 on the season.

Texas Tech continues its homestand this weekend when the squad plays host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Dan Law Field.