Box Score (PDF)

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 3 Texas Tech pitching staff limited the No. 11 University of South Alabama baseball team to two hits in an 8-1 Red Raider win in the series opener Friday at Rip Griffin Park.

TTU (10-0) finished with 12 hits in the game, and scored multiple runs in three different innings to secure game one of the series.

South Alabama (7-3) will return to action Saturday with a scheduled doubleheader with No. 3 TTU, with game one set for a noon first pitch. Game two of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

GAME FACTS
- USA threatened in the top of the second, but did not push across a run. Hunter Stokes singled to center field with one out, and moved to second on an error by TTU shortstop Michael Davis on a grounder to second off the bat of Paul Russo on a potential double-play ball. A fielder's choice on a grounder to second by Carter Perkins allowed Stokes to move to third to put runners at the corners with two outs. But TTU right-hander Davis Martin struck out Felix Aberouette to escape the inning and preserve a scoreless tie.
- TTU pushed across the game's first runs in the bottom of the third. Cameron Warren led off the inning with a single to shortstop, and advanced to second when Clay Koelzer reached on a hit by pitch. A groundout to second by Cody Farhat allowed both runners to move into scoring position with one out. Gabe Holt followed with an RBI infield single to shortstop to score Warren with the game's first run. Holt then stole second to set up two runners in scoring position with one out before Kurt Wilson delivered a two-run triple to right field for a 3-0 Red Raider lead. Brian Klein drew a two-out walk before stealing second to set up two runners in scoring position for Grant Little, but Jaguar right-hander Tyler Carr recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
- The Red Raiders put runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff single by Davis and single to left field by Warren. Koelzer followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield for a 4-0 TTU advantage. Farhat then delivered an RBI single to right field to extend the Red Raider lead to 5-0. Carr rolled a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Holt for the first two outs of the inning, but Koelzer scored on the play to push the TTU lead to 6-0.
- USA scored its first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Aberouette reached on a two-out walk, and advanced to third on a double to right field by Dylan Hardy. A walk by Brendan Donovan loaded the bases before a passed ball on Koelzer allowed Aberouette to score from third and cut the TTU lead to 6-1.
- Hunter Brittain drew a pinch-hit walk to lead off the top of the seventh inning, and moved to second when Aberouette drew a walk with no outs. 
- TTU pushed its lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out RBI triple to left-center field by Josh Jung, and added the game's final run later in the inning on a passed ball charged to Aberouette that allowed Jung to score. 

NOTES
- Hunter Brittain pinch-hit for Perkins in the top of the seventh, which marked his first career at-bat at South Alabama.
- Hardy extended his hitting streak to six games. 
- Swaggerty's seven-game hitting streak ended after he finished 0-for-4 at the plate.
- Hardy and Wells Davis extended their on-base streak to 10 games apiece.
- Hardy had a double, and Stokes finished with one hit for USA.
- Five Red Raiders recorded multiple hits in the game, led by Wilson who went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs and one run scored.
- TTU right-hander Martin (3-0) allowed one unearned run on two hits with four strikeouts and three walks in five innings pitched to earn the win.
- Carr (1-1) allowed six runs on nine hits with four strikeouts against one walk in six innings in the loss.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the game:
"Their (TTU) guy, Martin, is the number-one (starter) in the Big 12 for the third-ranked team in the country. I thought we gave some at-bats away; we rolled over, and didn't do a good enough job of handling his changeup. We hit a couple of balls hard, but our lefties need to do a better job with a guy with a changeup.  That's the second time we have faced a guy with a decent changeup, and we haven't been competitive enough in the box from the left side and that's disappointing. We have some older guys who didn't make an adjustment and drive him up the middle, which was our game plan. Most of our outs from the left side were on the right side of second base, and that's concerning. We have to get better with that moving forward. Tyler Carr competed well. He gave up two hard-hit balls, and to Texas Tech's credit they found some holes and put together two three-run innings and a two spot so I give them credit for mounting some offense. But Tyler competed, and as a staff we need to do a better job. We were out-played tonight."

On the rest of the series:
"I told our guys that there is plenty of series left, and that we need to provide a little more resistance. We need to push somebody – we need to push them back. We need to pressure somebody, get our offense going and use our speed on the bases. That means getting our leadoff guy on and having better at-bats – not getting ourselves out or letting a guy pitch to us as much. That's what we need to do. We need to do a better job leading off the inning. We'll face really good arms tomorrow; it will be no different. We need to fight back and provide more resistance than we did tonight, for sure offensively."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday with a scheduled doubleheader with No. 3 TTU, with game one set for a noon first pitch. Game two of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

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