No. 22 Texas Tech clinched its fourth-straight series victory against TCU in games played in Lubbock, winning 10-5 on Sunday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park. The Horned Frogs had a three-run outburst in the first inning, but it did not matter in Sunday's rubber match as Tech outscored the Horned Frogs 10-2 over the final 7 1/2 innings.
There was no shortage of offense throughout the series as Texas Tech poured in 37 runs over the three games. Gavin Kash led the charge with eight RBIs and three home runs, but it was the consistency of Gage Harrelson who tallied three hits in each of the three contests going 9-for-16 (.563) that helped keep the base paths busy, among others.
Tech, who was picked to finish third in the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Poll, has won two of its first three Big 12 series this season against preseason No. 1 TCU and preseason No. 2 Oklahoma State. Despite that success, the Red Raiders remain 4-5 in league play with its series loss to preseason choice No. 4 Texas. Tech's next Big 12 series will be at Oklahoma (April 14-16), who was slotted No. 5 in the preseason poll.
"History says you can't lose more than seven to nine games and win the league," said head coach Tim Tadlock. "You're going to have to play really good baseball moving forward … our league is good top to bottom. Everybody's playing good baseball. We're going to need to keep evolving as a team and build a little more margin for error."
Trendan Parish made his second career start on Sunday and his first start of the 2023 season. The sophomore allowed three runs in the first inning, and it had the potential for more runs to score, having the first five batters of the game reach safely with two base hits, two walks and an error. He battled to record three outs in a row against the 6-7-8 batters in the TCU lineup.
"I thought Parish did his job," said Tadlock. "Based on the first inning, he really did a good job minimizing in the first when you look at all the traffic he had. He's always a pitch away from a double play ball."
Parish did not allow a hit over the remainder of his outing, which ended after he finished the fourth inning. Parish was most dominant toward the end of his 95-pitch outing that saw him face a career-high 21 batters. He retired the final five batters he faced in a row, sparked after recording the first out of the third inning, an unassisted put out at third base catching the baserunner on the bag looking to go home on a ground ball that was hit straight back into his glove.
Parish grinded it out setting up Ryan Free and Brandon Beckel to close the game over the next five innings. Free tossed three innings and picked up the win while Beckel earned his second save of the series finishing out the last two frames.
Tech's pitching staff allowed just five hits on Sunday, and zero home runs after allowing the Horned Frogs to pelt five homers in their 10-7 Saturday win. Although, TCU remained in the hunt for the series win for the better part of the third game due to 13 free passes issued by the Red Raiders – seven walks, four hit-by-pitches and two errors that allowed baserunners.
While the pitching staff allowed only two runs after TCU's three-run first inning, Texas Tech grabbed a hold of the lead in the third inning, 5-3, and never relinquished it.
Tech scored six unanswered in total to take a 6-3 advantage after four complete innings, then plated a pair in the sixth and put the game out of reach in the eighth scoring two more to grab a 10-5 lead.
The Red Raiders produced 15 hits on Sunday, it would have been a Big 12 season-high in its nine conference games played this season had not for their 20 hits against TCU on Friday. Six different players chipped in multi-hit efforts in the finale with Harrelson leading the way going 3-for-5. Tech had six multi-base hits, two of which Harrelson was responsible for registering a double and a triple - he was a home run shy of the cycle. While Harrelson did record a home run, Hester did, knocking his first career bomb as a Red Raider to lead off the eighth, helping give insurance to the Red Raiders' lead.
Up Next
The Red Raiders take a break from conference action, starting with Abilene Christian on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and then a three-game series against North Dakota State. It will span from Thursday to Saturday with the Easter holiday approaching.
