Tech Baseball Gets Big Mid-Week Win

By Jay Langley - Special to KLBK.com Behind 21 hits and seven different pitchers the Texas Tech baseball team defeated Hardin-Simmons 17-6 Tuesday night at Dan Law Field. "It worked perfect for us," Tech coach Larry Hays said. "We got everybody out there we wanted to get out there. We had a couple of guys show some improvement and do some things we could build on." Hardin-Simmons (18-15) was not originally scheduled to come to Lubbock until Techs second game of a double-header Friday was cancelled because of weather. But Hays and HSU coach Steve Coleman decided to schedule the game to give both teams some addition work. "We needed this," Hays said. "I really appreciate coach Coleman coming up and playing us. Hopefully, it was good for them too." HSU pitcher James Sweatman set the Raiders down in order in the bottom of the first inning. But Tech (22-13) got the scoring started immediately in the second when catcher Matt Smith led off the inning with a solo homerun over the left field wall. The Raiders batted around in the second recording eight runs on eight hits in the inning to take a commanding 8-0 lead heading into the third inning. After pitching two scoreless innings Tech pitcher Cory Large gave up three runs in the third. Large, who has missed much of the 2007 season with a shoulder injury, said sitting and watching his team bat around could have contributed to his shaky pitching in the third inning. "I just missed a few spots in the third inning," he said. "I was trying to throw strikes but it just got away from me a little bit in that inning." Large, who improved to 2-0 on the season, said it was good to finally return from the injury. "It felt really good getting back out there," he said, "throwing to live hitters. It feels better right now. Well have to see how it feels tomorrow." Tech had seven different pitchers take the mound, with no pitcher going more than Larges 2 2/3 innings. "We didnt get a whole lot of pitchers in this weekend because of the game we lost because of the game we lost," Large said. "It was really good to see pitchers out there throwing strikes." Also returning to the Tech lineup was Doug Thennis who missed two games. Thennis said he missed the two games because of academic reasons but that he has gotten his schoolwork taken care of. The junior, outfielder finished the night 4 for 5 with 2 RBIs. "Without a doubt it feels good to be back in the lineup," he said, "Especially when you beat a team by 11 runs. All throughout the lineup guys were swinging the bats and someone did something special tonight." Tech next travels to Austin for a weekend match-up with the Texas Longhorns. "Its the same old routine playing in this league," Hays said of the match-up with Texas. "Were going to have to play good ball. Theyre a Texas team that has good arms as always and plays defense. The difference is more power numbers. Not just the normal pitching and defense that youve seen in the past."