ARLINGTON, TX — The No. 9 Texas Tech Red Raiders mounted a furious comeback that ultimately fell short against No. 8 Cincinnati on Wednesday, May 21, in the opening round of the Big 12 Baseball Championship. The Red Raiders fell 6-5.
“There’s a big core of them that just kept showing up, trying to make the effort to play the game right way," Head Coach Tim Tadlock said in his postgame press conference. "We had a lot of games just like today, you don't routine (play) the ball, maybe you don't drive in what you need to drive in, just our mistakes again. We just didn't have a big margin for error in any game unless we just came out and scored.”
Cincinnati jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Derrick Pitts singled up the middle. A throwing error on the same play allowed the Bearcats' Cal Sefcik to score.
Texas Tech Baseball in action vs. Cincinnati at the Big 12 Championships
(Credit: Big 12 Conference)
Texas Tech answered quickly in the top of the 3rd inning, with a sac-RBI from Coleman Ryan. Davis Rivers scored to knot the score at 1-1.
Cincinnati then broke the game open in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Three runs in the frame gave the Bearcats a commanding 4-1 lead. Neither team would score again until the 6th inning.
In the top of the 6th, Texas Tech finally found its offense again. Robin Villenueve continued his hot streak with another home run. The solo homer pulled Tech a run closer before Cincinnati answered with another run in the bottom of the frame.
“Well, it felt pretty good. I kind of went low," Villenueve said after the game. "They went with a fastball for the first two at-bats that I let go, so I knew I was going to have one early in the count. So, I just told myself, just make sure to not miss it and I didn’t miss it.”
Down 5-2, the Red Raiders continued to battle. The late rally beginning in the 6th inning continued in the 7th and 8th innings. Tracer Lopez hit an RBI in the 7th inning before Villenueva added a double down the 3rd base line to score Logan Huges in the 8th. Texas Tech would add one additional run from an RBI from Dylan Maxcey to pull Texas Tech's run total up to five for the afternoon.
However, Cincinnati's offense kept pace. A homerun in the 7th inning kept the Bearcats up by one even after Texas Tech's rally. The Red Raiders failed to score in the top of the 9th inning and fell 6-5.
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