Tech Sweeps Central Arkansas

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LUBBOCK, Texas – Junior right fielder Roger Kieschnick went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs to lead the Texas Tech Red Raiders to an 8-3 win and series sweep of Central Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon at Dan Law Field.

The win brings Texas Tech to the .500 mark on the season as the Red Raiders stand at 5-5 on the year with a four-game series against Illinois on the horizon.  Central Arkansas falls to 5-5.

Texas Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Roger Kieschnick drove in the first two of his game-high five RBIs.  Kieschnick laced a grounder through the right side that scored Joey Kenworthy who reached on a walk and Jason Seefeld who was hit by UCA starter James Parsons.

The two squads traded single runs in the third and the Bears made it a one-run game in the top of the sixth.  A leadoff walk and a single ended up giving the Bears runners at the corners in the inning and a groundout double play ball by Jonathan Yerby allowed Graham Martin to score from third.

With a slim 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Tech offense came to life off reliever Matt Humphrey as the Red Raiders plated five runs to take an 8-3 lead.  Roger Kieschnick blasted his fifth home run of the season (a two-run shot to right) while junior left fielder Tanner Rindels hit his first home run of the year (solo to right).

Russ Fornea (1-1) rebounded from a tough day at New Mexico last week and earned the win for the Red Raiders as he allowed just one run on two hits over five innings of work.  James Parsons (0-1) suffered the loss for Central Arkansas as he gave up two runs on one hit in just one inning of play.

Texas Tech will open a four-game weekend series on Friday afternoon as the Red Raiders will welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Dan Law Field.  First pitch on Friday has been rescheduled to 4p.m. due to forecasted cooler temperatures in the evening hours.  The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. and will wrap up the series at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. 

Tickets for the series can be purchased by calling the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office at (806) 742-TECH or logging online at www.texastech.com.

                                                                                                      R     H     E

Central Arkansas   001       001       001                               3      4      2

Texas Tech              201       000       50x                                8      9      1

WP = Fornea (1-1)

LP = Parsons (0-1)

SV = None

GAME NOTES

·          Junior right fielder Roger Kieschnick continues to live up to his pre-season All-America status as he added five RBI to his season total today and holds a Big 12 best  20.  He is well ahead of his RBI total at this point last season as it took him 29 games in 2007 to reach the 20-RBI mark.  He also blasted his fifth home run of the season and that too is best in the league.

·          Sophomore center fielder Taylor Ashby extended his current hit streak to 10 games and that is new career high for the Lubbock Monterey product.  Roger Kieschnick extended his streak to nine games while Joey Kenworthy continues his career-long hit streak at 10 games.

·          Texas Tech’s two-game series sweep of Central Arkansas is the first by the Red Raiders since the 2006 season when Tech took a three-game series sweep of the Missouri Tigers (5/12-14).  Texas Tech now leads the all-time series with Central Arkansas 2-0.

·          Sophomore shortstop Chris Hall picked up his fifth multiple-hit game (2-for-5) of the season and that trails only Roger Kieschnick who earned his sixth this afternoon.

--ttu--