Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 02.26.10

Texas Tech vs. Bethune-Cookman and Washington St.
Location: Dan Law Field, Lubbock, TX
Radio: Affiliates

Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Sr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Sr.); RF - Barrett Barnes (Fr.)
Infield:
SS - Joey Kenworthy (Sr.)     2ND - Garrett Totten (So.);
3RD - Nick Popescu (Jr.)                                  1ST - Stephen Hagen (Jr.)
C - Jeremy Mayo (So.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (So.)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech series preview (pdf).

The Game: This wasn't SP Chad Bettis' best start (7.0 IP; 8 H; 6 R; 4 ER; 4 BB; 5 SO) and in checking out the post-game comments, he's not happy about how he pitched. Brennan Stewart (1.2 IP; 3 H; 2 R; 2 ER; 0 BB; 2 SO) seemingly struggled as well, but at the end of the day, it's all about getting a win. Obviously, you want a little bit of a better pitching performance from your #1 starter and set-up guy in Stewart, but the person I'm least concerned about is Bettis. Jay Johnson (0.1 IP; 0 H; 0 R; 0 BB; 0 SO) got the final out for the game. Having not listened to the game, I'm curious if Spencer just wanted Johnson to get some work or if he felt that the game was ne jeopardy and wanted his closer to finish the game. One other thing to mention is that there were 2 errors in this games, both new guys in RF Barrett Barnes and 3B Nick Popescu. You'll note that two of Bettis' runs are unearned and we all need to watch the fielding percentage and if it's improved to last year.

The offense was pretty damned good, finishing with 15 hits as a unit. CF Taylor Ashby (3-5; 1 HR; 1 R; 4 RBI) and C Jeremy Mayo (3-4; 1 HR; 3 R; 2 RBI) led the offense. If there's one thing that I'm pretty certain of, it's that I think the offense is going to be pretty good this year. Last week's MVP Barrett Barnes went 0-4, but everyone around Barnes had quite a bit of success as SS Joey Kenworthy (2-4; 1 R; 1 RBI), DH Scott LeJeune (2-4; 2 R; 2 RBI) and 3B Nick Popescu (2-5; 2 R; 1 RBI).

Recaps: LAJ's George Watson and DT's Adam Coleman both recapped the game last night and talk about the offense and the struggling pitching. Watson talked with Ashby:

"We had a good day offensively even though we gave up way too many (at-bats)," said Ashby, who finished 3-for-5. "As a whole we were locked in good today. I don’t think the wind was a factor too much. We’re not where we need to be yet but we’ve improved each game."

And Coleman talked with Spencer about the team picking each other up:

"That’s part of picking somebody up," Tech coach Dan Spencer said. "I thought Chad was good. I thought they had a good approach on him early and they jumped him a little bit, some fastballs. Then Chad adjusted and started throwing more breaking balls, throwing more change (ups) and man those zeros and let us get a chance to separate a little bit."

Official site Post Game Quotes:

On the expectations for tomorrow's match-up against Washington State:

"I expect Bobby (Doran) to be good. I like our starting pitching, I like our pitching. I expect him to be good. I think he'll accept the challenge. I think Washington State will be a good club just like Bethune-Cookman is. They'll be an athletic, fast club, and confident because they've won some games. I think it's going to be good baseball. I wasn't sure, early, if folks knew we were playing tonight. But I guess it's a Thursday night at 4 o'clock so they're saving it up and coming out tomorrow."

On the confidence a win over a team who made it to Regionals last year means:

"I hope it does. You fight a little bit is we've been playing for 10 days and they haven't had much adversity yet. They haven't been beat and we haven't had an 0-for-14 from a guy yet so you have guys that are a bit giddy. Maybe the game closing up tight, today, will help us lock in a little bit and take care of our business. At this point in the year, before you get to conference play, it really doesn't matter who you beat, wins are wins. Every win we've had, I consider a quality win. It beats the alternative. I think we have high expectations of this club and they have high expectations of themselves. You have to play well and be consistent."

Video Recap: DT's Brett Winegarner with some video of the win:

Game Tomorrow
Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-11, 4-9) vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-15, 1-12)
Time:  3:00 p.m.
Location: Lincoln, NE
Television:  Big 12 Network
DTN Preview Tomorrow:  8:00 a.m. :: Open Game Day Thread:  2:00 p.m.

Tough Road:  DT's Mike Graham writes that the Red Raiders are looking for a win on Saturday, noting that these final three games are "must-win" games, especially if this team intends on making any sort of tournament, NIT or otherwise.  PG John Roberson on Saturday's game:

"It’s a must-win," Roberson said. "If you’re going to go to any tournament, we have to win this one. I think everybody is focused in on that right now."

And SG Nick Okorie understands how important this game will be:

"The team goal is to just try to win out so we can make postseason play," said Okorie, who is in his last collegiate season. "We don’t want to regret anything. Tech hasn’t been to postseason play for two years, so we’re just trying to make it to postseason play."

Staff Change:  Per the Advocate's Randy Rosetta, Steve Ensminger, who was hired by head coach Tommy Tuberville in a non-coaching position at Texas Tech, has been hired by the LSU Tigers as the new tight ends coach.  Tuberville had this to say about Ensminger, who is a LSU alum:

"He’s one of those guys that always talked about his home," said Tuberville, the former Auburn coach who is now at Texas Tech. "He’s always been very proud to be an LSU Tiger. I knew one day if he had a chance, he’d go back and coach there. He’s purple-and-gold all the way through. He spilled a lot of sweat and blood on that field and he’s very partial to his school."

More Carter Information:  A few more articles on NFL hopeful Brandon Carter, who showed up fresh and so clean-clean at the NFL Combine.  National Football Post's Wes Bunting still thinks that Carter is starting material, but will struggle in space.  Carter told Bunting that in talking with other former Red Raiders, adjusting to the NFL will be easy:

"They tell me that, from a scheme standpoint, it’s actually easier in the NFL than it was at Texas Tech," he said. "It’s only the level of competition that goes up."

And NewsOK's Berry Tramel had this interesting quote from Carter:

"I always liked Coach Leach," Carter said. "He made some questionable calls this year. What happened happened. I hope he finds somewhere else to coach. He’ll move on to bigger and better things."

Perhaps I'm reading too much into Carter's comments, but after reading this, I don't think there's any question that the rumors that Carter vehemently disagreed with Leach with some of the on-the-field calls he made in the Houston game are probably true.   Interesting.

Young Glad Recruiting Process Over:  DMN's Kyle Whitfield writes that QB Scotty Young is very glad the recruiting process is over and done with, although he was very chill over the entire Leach firing thing, bra:

Q: How stressed did you get after the Leach firing?
A: "My parents kind of got frustrated with me because I was just laid back, taking things as they came. They wanted to know what was going on every step. The only thing I could really tell them was that I had to act on my instincts. I never really had a set plan. They got a little frustrated with that because I'm so laid back. I took things as they came."