Brought to you by Jack Bell.
(04/08/2021) This weekend, the #8 Texas Tech Red Raiders take on the #10 TCU Horned Frogs
in Lubbock, TX. The Horned Frogs come into Lubbock winners of their last 10
games and have not lost since March 19 at Louisiana. The Red Raiders however,
are on the other end of the spectrum coming off of a series loss at Kansas State and
losers of two straight. Starting pitching was a real problem for Tech last weekend
in the two losses as was the lack of being able to drive in runners on base. Brandon
Birdsell was great on the mound on Thursday, however Patrick Monteverde and
Mason Montgomery struggled heavily with their location on Friday and Saturday,
respectively.
From the hitting aspect side of things Jace Jung had three homers on Thursday and
Kurt Wilson homered and doubled. The real story of the 17-1 victory was that the
Big 12’s leading hitter, Tech outfielder Dru Baker came up a little gingerly after
running out a grounder on the infield. He was replaced in the game and it didn’t
look like he’d play at all for the rest of the weekend. However, on Friday, there he
was hitting third in the lineup. After an 0-2 start through a couple of innings
though, Dru found himself out of the game again and Braydon Runion took over in
right field. Baker was not in the lineup Saturday in the series finale. Tech lost those
final two games by scores of 7-2 and 10-4 and they didn’t look particularly good
either day.
TCU comes into Lubbock with a 21-7 and perfect 6-0 record in conference play
and the Horned Frogs are led by Phillip Sykes, Hunter Wolfe, and Zach
Humphreys at the plate. Sykes leads the Frogs with a .340 average with 12 doubles
and 28 runs on the year, while Wolfe hits for a .321 average with four homers and
20 RBIs. Humphreys has a .315 average and five homers with 23 RBIs. Brayden
Taylor leads TCU with eight homers and 31 RBIs.
On the mound TCU throws Russell Smith on Friday and he has a 2.25 ERA over
40 innings with 50 strikeouts. Saturday the Frogs turn to Austin Krob who has a
2.27 ERA over 39.2 innings and 48 strikeouts. The starter for the finale looks to be
Johnny Ray. Ray comes in with a 3.57 ERA in 22.2 innings this season. TCU’s
strength is in the Friday and Saturday starters mixed in with a decent bullpen to
match.
Tech will most likely send its usual weekend rotation to the bump in the form of
Brandon Birdsell, Patrick Monteverde, and Mason Montgomery. It will be very
interesting to see how Monteverde and Montgomery will respond to their last
outings and if they can get back on the winning track.
I would look for a similar lineup that has been used over the last few weeks for the
Red Raiders, however you will want to look and see if Dru Baker is in the lineup
as he was listed as day-to-day during the week.
If you’re in Lubbock it’s time to show up and be loud at The Law this weekend.
It’s a top 10 matchup so lets get rowdy and beat the Frogs.