March 31, 2008

Complete Texas Tech Release in PDF Format

SETTING THE SCENE
Texas Tech will take a short break from the grind of the Big 12 Conference this week as the Red Raiders will play host to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in a two-game midweek series. The series gets underway at 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday night and will conclude at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

A Tech win on Tuesday could make Wednesday afternoon's game something very special in Texas Tech Baseball history as head coach Larry Hays will go for his 1,500th career win. He currently is two wins away from reaching the 1,500 mark thanks to a pair of wins over No. 2 Missouri over the weekend. Hays will become just the fourth coach in NCAA history to reach this milestone. He has a career record of 1,498-842-4 over 38 seasons.

The Red Raiders will be riding lots of momentum this week as Tech snatched a pair of crucial wins in the ninth inning on both Saturday and Sunday to secure a 2-1 series win over No. 2 Missouri. Tech got a game-winning RBI single from Taylor Ashby on Saturday that gave the Red Raiders a 3-2 win and then Doug Thennis blasted a grand slam home run in the ninth on Sunday that lifted Tech to a 15-11 win. The win gave Tech its first Big 12 series win of the season and the Red Raiders are now tied for fifth place in the league.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes into the week with an 8-18 overall record after sweeping a three-game series from Nicholls State.

Both games of the TAMU-CC series will be carried live on the Texas Tech Sports Network (KKAM 1340 in Lubbock) with Robert Giovannetti and Matt Miller calling the action live from Dan Law Field. Live audio and video will be available on the official website of Texas Tech Athletics, www.texastech.com.