Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 04.26.10

Still Short on Time:  I keep telling you that I've been short on time and that's the truth.  Today, my wife and I have our first homestudy interview as part of our adoption.  Thus, the entire weekend has been spent cleaning the house and the yard.  I had a tough time trying to convince the wife that our caseworker wouldn't judge us based on the cleanliness of our house.  That just didn't fly.  Nevertheless, I've got a write-up on the spring game defense scheduled later for today and the offense is scheduled for later in the week. 

NFL Draft and Free Agent Signings:  To catch everyone up, CB Jamar Wall was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 6th round, while RG Brandon Carter signed with the New Orleans Saints and RT Marlon Winn signed with the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday as undrafted free agents.   LAJ's Don Williams and DT's Adam Coleman also write about Wall's moment and also reports that DE Daniel Howard has signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns:

"I have a little bit of familiarity with each position," Howard said. "I’m going to have to learn a lot more since I played defensive end. It’ll be a learning experience. Hopefully they like what they see and they take the time to work with me and help me learn this position."

Congrats to all and think a good thought for those players hoping to catch on with an NFL team.

Straight Shooter: Abilene Reporter News' Greg Jaklewicz writes that head coach Tommy Tuberville's visit to Abilene last week left Jaklewicz with the impression that Tubs is a straight shooter:

Tuberville said the first thing that has to change with the Red Raiders is playing championship defense. Everyone knows the offense is in place. Tech, however, can’t keep outscoring its opponents. In their biggest games, opponents have been able to corral the Red Raiders offense.

He didn’t say it so many words — because a head coach can’t be quite that honest — but bringing up the defense a notch or two won’t happen this fall. He said there are good players, some of whom need to be in other positions. But he needs more speed and more depth.

I'll have more on Tubs and the need for speed later in the morning.

Spring Wrap-ups:  The DMN has spring football wrap-ups.  Nothing earth-shattering, but it's something to read.

Texas Tech (24-20, 10-8) vs. Kansas (25-16, 6-8-1)
Location: Hoglund Ballpark : Lawrence, KS
Radio: Affiliates

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

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

Lose the First Game, Win the Series: I can't explain it, but it's Texas Tech's 4th series-win in a row and now the Red Raiders sit firmly at 3rd place in the Big 12 are now 4 games over .500 overall and 2 games over .500 in the Big 12.

Game 1 was lost early as starter Brett Bruening gave up 8 earned runs in the first three innings. The offense could only muster 2 runs for the game.

Game 2 was a completely different animal in that it wasn't necessarily pretty, but it was a win. Starter Bobby Doran (5.1 IP; 5 H; 4 ER; 3 BB; 4 SO) was good enough and reliever Chad Bettis (3.2 IP; 6 H; 4 ER; 1 BB; 4 SO) got the win, good for his 6th of the year. The offense was led by leadoff 2B Jamodrick McGruder (4-5; 1 R; 1 RBI; 2 SB) who was setting the table and getting on base the entire game. The middle and back half of the lineup really drove home the runs in the second game: LF Michael Reed (3-3; 2 RBI); DH Scott LeJeune (1-4; 2 RBI); C Jeremy Mayo (2-4; 3 RBI); 3B Nick Popescu (2-5; 2 RBI) and RF Bonham Hough (1-4; 1 RBI). That's your 4 through 8 hitters.

In Game 3, starter Jay Johnson (5.2 IP; 1 H; 6 ER; 6 BB; 4 SO) seemingly had control problems, but Texas Tech was out to a very early lead. Johnson was replaced once things got close as Colt Farrar only pitched a third of an inning, but gave up 4 earned runs and Chad Bettis who is pitching on the same day as Game 2, gets his 8th save of the year (3.0 IP; 3 H; 0 BB; 5 SO). The Red Raiders set a school and Big 12 Conference record for doubles in a game with 12. The 2B Jamodrick McGruder (4-5; 6 RBI; 1 BB; 2 SO) show continued. For the final two games of the series, McGruder was 8 for 10. Holy smokes. The entire lineup lit up the Kansas pitching staff and it's tough to pick out the top performers. Every player in the lineup got at least one hit and SS Joey Kenworthy (4-6; 3 RBI) and C Jeremy Mayo (4-6; 2 RBI) each had 4 hits for the game. The LAJ has a recap.

Non-Conference Schedule Released:  Per the official site, the non-conference schedule was released.  The non-conference schedule is really the furthest thing from my mind this morning, but it appears that the toughest game (other than who Texas Tech might play in any tournament) is at Washington.#

Day       Date     Opponent
Fri         Nov. 12     Louisiana-Monroe
Tues    Nov. 16     at North Texas
Fri        Nov. 19      Stephen F. Austin
Sun     Nov. 21      Liberty University
Tues   Nov. 23     Georgia Southern
Fri        Nov. 26     at South Padre Invitational (Semi-finals)
Sat      Nov. 27     at South Padre Invitational (Finals)
Tues   Nov. 30    Oral Roberts
Sat      Dec. 4      at Washington
Wed    Dec. 8      TCU
Sat      Dec. 18    at UTEP
Wed    Dec. 22    UT-Arlington
Wed    Dec. 29    New Mexico
Sun     Jan. 2      Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Tues   Jan. 4      Delaware State