Tech Snaps Losing Skid

LUBBOCK, Texas – Junior right-hander Lorenzo Douglas tossed five shutout innings and Taylor Ashby went 3-for-4 with a game-high four RBIs to lead the Texas Tech Red Raiders to a 10-0 shutout of New Mexico on Tuesday night at Dan Law Field.

The shutout marked the first of the season for the Red Raiders as they snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 17-15 overall.  New Mexico falls to 20-12.

The night belonged to Lorenzo Douglas (2-0) as he made the most of his first career start and just his eighth appearance of the year.  He handcuffed a New Mexico offense that came into game with a team average of .315 as he held to Lobos to just three hits over five shutout innings of work.  Coming into the game, his longest outing was three innings of relief work against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back on April 2.

The Red Raiders were able to seal their first shutout of the season thanks to the solid relief work of junior’s Brian Cloud and James Leverton.  Cloud and Leverton each tossed two scoreless innings to mark the first shutout by the Red Raiders since defeating Kansas 1-0 last season.

The Texas Tech offense finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore left fielder Taylor Ashby drove in his first run of the game with an RBI single through the left side that scored Jason Seefeld from second.  Seefeld reached on a fielding error by Lobo right fielder Bobby Moore to set up the scoring opportunity for Ashby.

Tech tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth and finally chased away New Mexico starter John Hesketh who had matched the start by Douglas until the fifth inning.  Senior first baseman Doug Thennis led off the frame with a double and junior right fielder Roger Kieshnick moved him to third with a bunt single down the third base line.  Tech would get the bases loaded and Monk Kreder would drive in the first run with a groundout.  Ashby then added to his RBI total with a two-RBI single through the left side that made the score 4-0.

Texas Tech added four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to take a 10-0 lead.

The Red Raiders will try to take the season series from the Lobos tomorrow afternoon as the two schools play game-four at Dan Law Field.  First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

                                                                                                      R     H     E

New Mexico             000       000       000                               0      0      1

Texas Tech              000       013       42s                               10   12   0

WP = Lorenzo Douglas (2-0)

LP = John Hesketh (2-2)

SV = None

GAME NOTES

·          Texas Tech tossed its first shutout of the season tonight and its first since defeating Kansas 1-0 back on April 20, 2007.  AJ Ramos pitched the complete game shutout against Kansas last season and the last combined shutout (AJ Ramos and Travis Young) for the Red Raiders was against Cal-State Northridge on March 2, 2007

·          The shutout of New Mexico is Tech’s first in the series since dropping the Lobos 1-0 back on March 7, 1992.

·          Texas Tech now leads the all-time series against New Mexico 56-32-1.

·          Taylor Ashby tied his career-high this evening with four RBIs.  He previously drove in four runs in the 2007 season finale at Oklahoma on May 11.  His three hits on the night were a season-high and it marked his seventh multiple hit game of the year.

--ttu--