The Texas Tech baseball team went into the week having played a one-run game only once all season. Facing Central Florida in Orlando, the Red Raiders played nothing but one-run games and finally won one.
Drew Woodcox and Gavin Kash homered in the fourth inning, and Mac Heuer pitched effectively into the sixth as the Red Raiders prevailed 3-2 Saturday in a Big 12 series finale.
Matt Prevesk homered in the third inning off Heuer (3-2). Woodcox and Kash went deep against Wiley Hartley (2-2).
The score remained 2-1 until the ninth, when Tech’s Landon Stripling delivered a sacrifice fly and UCF’s Andrew Estrella unloaded a pinch-hit homer off Hudson Luce. Tech freshman Cole Kaase then entered and retired all three batters he faced for his first save.
UCF (18-7, 6-6) won the series’ first two games 5-4 and 2-1.
Tech (19-9, 5-7) has five home games this week, hosting Stanford at 6:30 p.m. Monday and noon Tuesday and taking on Houston at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Stanford was 10-13 going into a Pac-12 game Saturday at Utah. Houston was 15-11 and 4-7 in the Big 12 going into a game Saturday at TCU.
Around the conference:Big 12 baseball power rankings | Marquee players on the mend after rough month
BYU series recap:Gavin Kash ends drought, Trendan Parish fans 6 | Texas Tech baseball takeaways
Mac Heuer recaptures his form
Tech’s 6-foot-6, 265-pound freshman righthander bounced back from two rocky outings with a strong start. He needed Parker Hutyra’s help to get out of a sixth-inning jam, but wound up with a sparkling line: 5 2/3 innings, five hits, one run, two walks and four strikeouts.
In his previous two outings, Heuer pitched a total of eight innings and gave up five runs apiece at Baylor and at home against Brigham Young.
Bad news, good news
Texas Tech’s 5-7 conference record is its worst 12-game start since the 2014 team also stood 5-7 after four conference series. If the Red Raiders need inspiration, the 2014 team rallied from there to reach the College World Series, the program’s first of four trips to Omaha.
Can the Red Raiders score? Where are they playing?
Texas Tech has a reputation for being a handful at home. The Red Raiders frequently pile up runs at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park with the prevailing wind and 3,200-foot elevation.
Granted, 12 games is a relatively small sample size. But in six Big 12 games at home this season, Tech has scored 41 runs. In six Big 12 games in Waco and Orlando, the Red Raiders have scored 13.
