RED RAIDERS HEAD TO OKLAHOMA CITY
After a two-year absence, the Red Raiders return to Oklahoma City for the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship. Texas Tech earned the No. 7 seed in the tournament and will open play against No. 2 Oklahoma on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. After an off day on Thursday, Tech will resume pool play against No. 3 seed Missouri on Friday at 3 p.m. Tech will then face No. 6 Texas A&M on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. The Big 12 Championship game is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday and will be televised nationally on FSN. Advance tickets can be purchased by calling the Oklahoma City All-Sports Association at (405) 218-1000.
LIVE STREAMING AVAILABLE
Red Raider fans who can't make the trip to Oklahoma City can take advantage of live streaming video of each game of the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. Big12Sports.com will offer live audio and video of every single pitch during the five-day tournament. Audio from the webcast will also be broadcast on Sirius XM Radio (Sirius 214(Best of XM)/XM 231), a Big 12 corporate partner. The postseason eight-team championship is scheduled for May 20-24 at Oklahoma City's AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. The webcast will feature play-by-play and color analysis KSPI AM-Stillwater (Okla.) Sports Director Rex Holt and David Garrett of Oklahoma City's Fox Sports Radio affiliate. Big12Sports.com Correspondent Wendell Barnhouse will host pre-game and post-game shows for the first time in league history. Special guests will join Barnhouse throughout the week.
TEXAS TECH VS. THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
Texas Tech will be looking to avenge a series loss to Oklahoma earlier this season when the Red Raiders and Sooners meet on Wednesday night. The Sooners lead the all-time series 30-24-1 and have won seven of the last 10 meetings. Oklahoma owns a 4-3 record against the Red Raiders in the Big 12 Championship with the last meeting coming back in 2004 (a 3-1 OU that eliminated Tech).
Missouri's three-game sweep of the Red Raiders in late April gave the Tigers a 24-19 lead in the all-time series. The Tigers hold a 2-1 advantage over the Red Raiders in the conference tournament with the last meeting resulting in a 10-1 Tiger win on May 26, 2005.
Texas Tech will be in search of its third win over Texas A&M on Saturday as the Red Raiders won the three-game series against the Aggies back in early April. Texas A&M leads the all-time series 87-55 but the Red Raiders are 3-2 against the Aggies in the conference tournament. Saturday's game will mark the first time that the two schools have met in the tournament since the 2001 season (an 8-6 Texas A&M win).
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 Daren Hays. 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.
SHORT HOPS
Senior second baseman Willie Rueda will carry the most consistent stick into Oklahoma City as he currently leads the team with an 11-game hit streak ... the 11-game streak is a new career high surpassing a 10-game mark that he set in 2008.
Junior center fielder Taylor Ashby and freshman designated hitter Scott LeJeune have a combined 47 two-out RBIs this season ... Ashby leads the way with 24 while LeJeune has added 23.
Senior RHP AJ Ramos was held from his starting duties this past weekend against Oklahoma State in order to give him maximum rest for the conference tournament ... he did make a two-inning relief appearance on Friday night and that marked his first time out of the bullpen since the 2007 season ... he pitched 1/3 of an inning against Missouri on April 29, 2007.
Texas Tech's series loss to Oklahoma State marked its first home series setback of the season and the Red Raiders were denied their fifth Big 12 series win of the year.
Texas Tech's 9-8 win over Oklahoma State on Friday night gave the Red Raiders their fifth Friday win in Big 12 play ... that's the most since the 2002 season.
Sophomore Chad Bettis recorded his seventh save of the season at Dallas Baptist and that moved him into a tie for fourth place on the school's career saves list. His seven career saves has him in a tie with Mark Johnston (1976-79) and Kevin Tracey (1999-2000). He earned his fifth win of the year in the series opener against Oklahoma State.
Senior first baseman Chris Richburg took over the team lead in home runs in the series finale at Kansas State. Richburg hit two home runs against the Wildcats for his second multiple home run game of the season. His 13 home runs are tied for sixth in the Big 12 and seven of them have come in Big 12 play.
Sophomore catcher Jeremy Mayo ranks second in the Big 12 having caught 22 base runners trying to steal ... Oklahoma's J.T. Wise leads the league with 28.
The Tech offense has had success against Big 12 ace's this year as the Red Raiders have a combined .362 average against Friday night starters ... the .362 average goes along with 46 runs scored while Tech has given Kansas State's AJ Morris (11-1) his only loss of the season.
Of Tech's 306 RBIs this season, 128 of those have come with two-outs.
Texas Tech finished the regular-season with 32 road games (most in the Big 12 Conference) while this weekend's home series against OSU will be just the 20th, 21st and 22nd games at Dan Law Field in 2009.
Texas Tech has 10 wins over ranked opponents this season, including four over teams ranked in the Top 10.
Texas Tech has loaded the bases on four different occasions and has been unable to drive in a single run. The latest was on April 1 in Albuquerque when Tech loaded them up in the fourth only to allow UNM reliever Ryan Escarcega to retire three straight batters without allowing a run.
Texas Tech has surpassed its sacrifice hit total from last season as the Red Raiders now have 47 in 2009. Tech managed just 36 sacrifice bunts in all of 2008.
RED RAIDERS IN THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
The Texas Tech Baseball team clinched its first berth in the Big 12 Conference Championship (tournament) for the first time in three years at Kansas State. Tech's series win over the Wildcats combined with an Oklahoma series win over Oklahoma State clinched a bid for the Red Raiders. Tech has missed the conference tournament each of the last two seasons with its last appearance coming back in 2006.
Only six players on this year's team have been part of a conference tournament (Chris Richburg, Willie Rueda, Brian Cloud, AJ Ramos, Cory Large and Miles Morgan). Of those six players, only Chris Richburg has experienced a win in the tournament as Tech defeated Nebraska in 2005 (his freshman season).
Texas Tech sealed the No. 7 seed with a win over Oklahoma State on Friday and a Nebraska series sweep of Baylor.
Texas Tech enters the Big 12 Championship as the seventh seed for the first time in history. Tech has been seeded 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 in nine appearances.
Texas Tech is 12-18 all-time in the Big 12 Tournament and has one title (1998).
The Red Raiders have lost five-straight tournament games, including an 0-3 showing back in 2006. Tech's last tournament win was in 2005 when the No. 8 seed Red Raiders upset No. 1 seed Nebraska 5-1.
Tech and Oklahoma have met previously in a 2-7 match-up but the roles were reversed. Tech was the No. 2 seed in 2001 and earned a 17-5 win over the Sooners in the opening game of the tournament. OU, however, came back and eliminated Tech with a 4-3 win later on in that tournament.
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