RED RAIDERS HOPE TO REBOUND IN RIVERSIDE
Texas Tech comes limping into its midweek matchup against UC-Riverside on Tuesday evening after enduring a three-game series sweep at Cal-State Northridge over the weekend. The Red Raiders had their chances all three days but just couldn't find the offense at key times as they suffered their 18th consecutive three-game series loss on the road. Tech must regroup in a hurry as a 6-2 UC-Riverside team awaits on Tuesday at Riverside Sports Complex where the first pitch has been set for 8 p.m. (CT). The game against the Highlanders is the fifth in what will be an eight-game road swing for the Red Raiders in the state of California this week. In all, Texas Tech will spend 11 days in the "Golden State" with the Red Raiders moving on to Palm Springs on Wednesday for the 2009 Palm Springs Invitational.
THE TEXAS TECH-UC-RIVERSIDE SERIES
Texas Tech leads the all-time series against UC-Riverside 2-1 and will be meeting for the second consecutive season. Last year, the Highlanders made the trip to Dan Law Field where the two squads split a two-game series. Tech took the opener of that midweek set 5-4 (March 24) while the Highlanders were victorious in the final game as they posted an 8-6 win. The only other meeting between the two schools was back in 2001 at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego where the Red Raiders collected a 17-6 win. The game against UC-Riverside will mark the second-straight opponent for Tech from the Big West Conference as the Red Raiders faced Cal-State Northridge over the weekend at Matador Diamond in Northridge. The contest will also be the first of two-straight games between the two teams as they will square off again on Thursday in the first game of the Palm Springs Invitational.
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
UC-Riverside stands at 6-2 on the young season after posting a 3-1 series win against the San Francisco Dons over the weekend in their home opener at Riverside Sports Complex. The Highlanders rebounded from a 7-0 shutout on Thursday with wins of 5-4 (13 innings) on Friday, 8-2 on Saturday and 7-4 on Sunday. UC-Riverside posted a 2-1 series win at California to open the 2009 season and followed that up with an 11-1 route of UCLA in Los Angeles on Feb. 25.
The Highlanders come into Tuesday's contest with a team batting average of .275 and a staff ERA of 3.60. Offensively, UCR is led by outfielder Tony Nix who owns a .435 average and a .480 on-base percentage. Third baseman Ryan Goetz is the RBI leader with eight while outfielder Joey Gonzalez leads the team in home runs with two.
On the mound, the Highlanders are paced by Paul Applebee who is 2-0 on the year with a 2.81 ERA over 16 innings of work. In two starts, Applebee has allowed just five earned runs on nine hits and struckout 16.
RED RAIDERS ON THE AIR
Texas Tech's entire schedule in 2009 including both regular-season and post-season action will be carried live on the flagship station of the Texas Tech Sports Network, KKAM-1340. The Texas Tech Sports Network begins its 16th season of full coverage of Red Raider Baseball. Robert Giovannetti will handle the play-by-play duties for the second year in a row and will be assisted by Matt Miller and Blayne Beal. Network pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch and concludes with a postgame show. Live audio streams will be available for all road games through RaiderVision All-Access while live video/audio will be available for all home games.
NOTES ON THE ROAD TRIP
Texas Tech will embark on an 11-day road trip to California beginning on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 27). The following are some quick notes on the trip:
The 11-day road trip is the longest in school history for the program that's first season dates back to 1926.
Tech will play eight games on the trip and that is the most consecutive games away from Dan Law Field since .... last season! The Red Raiders played their first eight games of the 2008 season on the road due to back-to-back weekend series being cancelled.
The Red Raiders will face five different opponents in Cal-State Northridge, UC-Riverside, San Francisco, Gonzaga and Oregon State.
Tech will land at 4:15 on Thursday afternoon at LAX and depart at 3:20 p.m. out of Ontario, Calif., on Sunday, March 8.
Matthew Jordan, the academic counselor for baseball, will accompany the team on the trip to oversee study hall.
RED RAIDERS STRUGGLE TO FIND STROKE AT CSUN
The Texas Tech offense will be looking to regain some strength this week after a sluggish performance over the weekend at Cal-State Northridge. The Red Raiders hit just .247 in the three-game series against the Matadors and managed just nine total runs. Tech had an on-base percentage of .346 and collected just five RBIs (none on Sunday). Mistakes proved costly for the Red Raiders in the series as four different players were picked off base while Tech committed eight errors for a .929 fielding percentage.
ROAD WOES CONTINUE
Texas Tech's road woes continue as the Red Raiders suffered a three-game series sweep at Cal-State Northridge. With the series loss, Tech has now dropped 18-consecutive, three-game series losses dating back to the 2005 season. Tech's last three-game series win was against Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2004.
SHORT HOPS
Senior second baseman Willie Rueda suffered a hamstring injury while running to first base in the second inning against Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 21. Rueda will be out indefinitely.
Sophomore catcher Jeremy Mayo returned to action on Friday in the series opener against Cal-State Northridge. Mayo suffered a dislocated thumb on Feb. 21 against Southern Utah and missed Sunday's game against UTPA and the midweek series against New Mexico.
Freshman designated hitter Scott LeJeune hit safely in all three games of the Cal-State Northridge series to extend his current hit streak to seven games. LeJeune is second on the team with a .360 average and has added six RBIs.
Senior RHP AJ Ramos turned in another solid outing as he logged four shutout innings against Northridge on Sunday afternoon. Ramos was limited to just 65 pitches as he continues to recover from Tommy John surgery. On the season, Ramos is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over seven innings of work.
Texas Tech has now committed at least one error in each of the last eight games. Of those eight games, five turned out to be multiple-error games.
Junior shortstop Joey Kenworthy had his 63-game starting streak snapped against CSUN on Sunday as head coach Dan Spencer elected to go with freshman Justin Berry. Kenworthy got a pinch hit single when he came into the game in the top of the seventh inning.
The Red Raiders did not allow an earned run in Sunday's finale against CSUN as the Matadors scored three unearned runs to take a 3-2 come-from-behind win.
Tech averaged 2,215 fans per-game during the six-game season-opening homestand at Dan Law Field. A season-high crowd of 3,413 turned out to watch Tech defeat Southern Utah 8-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Texas Tech was officially the first team in the Big 12 Conference to begin play in 2009. The Red Raiders threw the first pitch against Southern Utah at 1:01 p.m. on Feb. 20 while the Kansas Jayhawks started just four minutes later (1:05 p.m.) against Air Force.
The 2009 season marks the second year of the newly mandated uniform start date by the NCAA. NCAA Division I teams are not allowed to begin competition until Feb. 20.
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