May 2, 2000

LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech Red Raiders softball team (17-33, 6-9) makes its final regular season road trip this week as it faces the Texas A&M Aggies (7-9, 28-19) in College Station on Wednesday, May 3. The teams play an afternoon doubleheader that has been made extremely important because the Red Raiders need a pair of victories to secure a fourth place finish in the Big 12 race.

The Red Raiders can secure a top tier conference finish with a sweep of the doubleheader. However, a split would knock them down to sixth place in the standings and in the worst case scenario a pair of losses knocks Tech to a seventh place conference finish. If the Red Raiders do finish in seventh place they must play Iowa State in a play-in game to secure a birth at the conference tournament next week.

Texas Tech is 4-5 all-time against the Aggies. The Raiders won the last meting between the two teams, which came on May 13 of last season in the Big 12 Tournament, by a score of 4-0. Tech has won four of the last five meetings between the schools.

Texas A&M stands near the middle of the pack in conference statistics when it comes to batting average (5th, .267) and ERA (5th, 1.92). However, the Aggies boast a pair of the top bats in the conference and a pitcher who is having an outstanding year. Selena Collins is hitting .338 with 5 homeruns as a freshman and teammate Angie Long is hitting .320. Additionally, when pitcher Amy Vining toes the rubber the Aggies don't need to lend much run support. Vining sports a trim 1.92 ERA and holds the opposition to a .218 batting average.