Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 05.24.09

Texas Tech Baseball

Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Jr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Jr.); RF - Garrett Totten (Fr.)
Infield:
SS - Joey Kenworthy (Jr.)     2ND - Willie Rueda (Sr.);
3RD - Justin Berry (Fr.)                                  1ST - Chris Richburg (Sr.)
C - Jeremy Mayo (Fr.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (Fr.)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech Big 12 Tournament preview (pdf).

Red Raiders Lose to Aggies, Season Done

When I woke up this morning to learn that our Red Raiders had lost to the Aggies, 11-4, I wasn't the least bit disappointed (recap). Texas Tech just didn't have the pitching depth go go in such a short tournament, needing to start senior Miles Morgan, who has been inconsistent all year, due in part to family tragedy. The pitching is just not there for a 4 game tournament, like this one, but in my opinion, there's no reason to feel bad at all. At the end of the day, this team, which no one really expected to even make the Big 12 Tournament, came within a game to going to the championship game. That's a heck of an accomplishment and despite the loss, I'm proud of this team.

Morgan (1.2 IP; 6 H; 5 ER; 3 BB; 1 SO) struggled from the start and the bullpen wasn't much better as Louis Head (0.2 IP; 5 H; 4 ER; 2 BB; 1 SO) couldn't stop the Aggies from plating 9 runs in the first three innings. Robert Kilcrease (4.0 IP; 4 H; 2 R; 1 ER; 3 BB; 4 SO) stopped the bleeding and Brian Cloud (2.2 IP; 0 H; 0 ER; 1 BB; 3 SO) pitched two and two-thirds no-hit innings to close out the game.

The Red Raiders only managed 7 hits for the game, as 1B Chris Richburg (1-4; 1 HR; 1 RBI) hit his 14th homerun of the year while RF Garrett Totten (2-4; 2 RS) and C Jeremy Mayo (2-4; 2 RBI) were the other sparks on the offense.

LAJ's George Watson has a great recap of last night's win, but also acknowledges the accomplishments of this team this year. Head coach Dan Spencer:

It’s just disappointing for all of us, especially those older guys," head coach Dan Spencer said. "This program’s got a lot of winning in front of it and the guys in that dugout now, they gave us the building blocks to take the next step next year.

"They’re not going to feel good about it now and they’re not going to feel good about this year until they’re removed from it and think about the teammates they had and the wins they had and the jump in conference, to make a move to get here and play this last game on a Saturday night for the right to go to the championship. They’re small steps, and they took them."

Texas and Missour face off in the championship game at 1:00 p.m. today, the game will be on FSN for those of you who need a baseball fix. As always, check out Big 12 Hardball and the official Big 12 site.