Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball explained

Current:2024 Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Founded:1926
University:Texas Tech University
Conference:Big 12
Location:Lubbock, Texas
Coach:Tim Tadlock
Tenure:12th
Stadium:Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park
Capacity:4,801
Nickname:Red Raiders
Cws:2014, 2016, 2018, 2019
Regional Champ:2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021
Ncaa Tourneys:1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
Conference Champion:1995, 1997, 2016, 2017, 2019
Conference Tournament:1995, 1998

The Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team represents Texas Tech University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team competes in the Big 12 Conference and plays at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. Their head coach is Tim Tadlock and is entertaining his 9th season with the Red Raiders.

History

Early years

Along with the football and men's basketball teams, the Texas Tech baseball team was founded during the university's initial academic year, in 1925–26. The team's first series was against the West Texas A&M Buffaloes in 1926, an 18–9 victory in the first game and 14–9 loss in the second.[1] The third game in the team's history—this one against Daniel Baker College—ended in a 3–3 tie after 11 innings.[2]

E. Y. Freeland was the first coach of the Red Raiders, though the team was known as the Matadors at the time. He remained in the position for three years before R. Grady Higginbotham took the role. Higginbotham coached for only two years. From 1930 to 1953, Texas Tech did not field an intercollegiate baseball team.

Revival era

When the program returned in 1954, Beattie Feathers became the head coach of the Red Raiders and remained until 1960. He was followed by Berl Huffman (1961–1967), Kal Segrist (1968–1983), and Gary Ashby (1984–1986). Texas Tech joined the Southwest Conference in 1968, but experienced little success. During this 26 season period, the Red Raiders had only seven winning seasons; only twice finishing as high as third, with only three winning records in conference play.

Modern era

Larry Hays took over the Red Raiders baseball team in 1987. Under Hays, Texas Tech endured only two losing seasons, his first and last, and enjoyed their greatest success in baseball. Hays took Texas Tech from having a losing tradition to being a national contender. When Hays started with the Red Raiders, the team's overall record stood at 550–576–5. By the time he left, he was the fourth-winningest coach in college baseball history and improved the team's record to 1,365–1,054–8.[3] The Red Raiders reached eight straight NCAA tournaments from 1995 to 2002 and again in 2004, three of which were held at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.[4] They also won the 1995 Southwest Conference championship, and the inaugural Big 12 Conference championship in 1997. The Hays-led Red Raiders also won the SWC Tournament in 1995, and the Big 12 Tournament in 1998.[3]

On June 2, 2008, Larry Hays announced his retirement, paving the way for assistant coach Dan Spencer to take over. Spencer, a former Texas Tech player, won back-to-back national championships as an assistant head coach for the Oregon State Beavers.[5] In Spencer's four seasons as head coach, he led the Red Raiders to only one winning season. Prior to Spencer's fourth, and final, season as head coach, Tim Tadlock was hired as associate head coach for the Red Raiders under Dan Spencer. The following season saw Tadlock replace Spencer as the ninth head coach of the Red Raiders following Spencer's firing.

Tadlock was a starting shortstop for the Red Raiders during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. Tadlock previously led the Grayson College Vikings to back-to-back NJCAA Division I World Series championships in the team's five appearances over his 9 seasons as head coach. Tadlock's first season saw the team finish 26–30, and 8th of 9 in Big 12 play. Prior to the 2014 season, the Red Raiders were selected to finish in 8th place in the Big 12 Conference in the preseason polls. In only his second season, the Red Raiders won their first NCAA tournament Regional Championship, defeating the Columbia Lions and host team Miami Hurricanes to advance to the program's first Super Regional appearance. The team would host College of Charleston in the Lubbock Super Regional before shutting them out twice in two 1–0 games, earning the programs first berth in the College World Series on the back of a 0.65 post season earned run average produced by assistant coach Ray Hayward's pitching staff.[6] The Red Raiders have since gone on to win Big 12 regular season conference championships in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and again host both Regional and Super Regional rounds of the NCAA tournament in Lubbock while also making three more appearances in the College World Series (2016, 2018–2019).

Ballpark

See main article: article and Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

Season-by-season results

Source:[7] [8]

Head coaches

See main article: article and List of Texas Tech Red Raiders head baseball coaches.

Individual accomplishments

Unanimous All-American

National Pitcher of the Year Award

Big 12 Conference Player of the Year

Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year

Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year

Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year

Big 12 Conference Tournament MVP

Southwest Conference Coach of the Year

Southwest Conference Tournament MVP

NCAA Division I Regional Tournament MVP

Skip Bertman Award

Retired jerseys

!Number!Player!Seasons
22Brooks Wallace1977–1980
23Clint Bryant1993–1996
24Kal Segrist1968–1983
27Larry Hays1987–2008

Red Raiders in the Major Leagues

At least 30 former Texas Tech Red Raiders have gone on to play Major League Baseball.[9]

PlayerMLB Career DatesRound DraftedTeam Drafted
Chuck Harrison1965–1969, 1971N/AN/A
1976–1980Free AgentTexas Rangers
Donald Harris1991–19931st (5th pick) Texas Rangers
Mike Humphreys1991–199315thSan Diego Padres
Mark Brandenburg1995–199726thTexas Rangers
Ryan Nye1997–19982ndPhiladelphia Phillies
Travis Smith1998–200619thMilwaukee Brewers
Brandon Kolb2000–200138thOakland Athletics
Keith Ginter2000–200510thHouston Astros
Stubby Clapp20012019–present (Coach) 36thSt. Louis Cardinals
Matt Miller2001–20022ndDetroit Tigers
Trey Lunsford2002–200333rdSan Francisco Giants
Travis Driskill2002–2005, 20074thCleveland Indians
Josh Bard2002–20112016–present (Coach) 3rdColorado Rockies
Steve Watkins200416thSan Diego Padres
Joe Dillon2005, 2007–20092018–present (Coach)7thKansas City Royals
2006–20098thHouston Astros
Jeff Karstens2006–201219thNew York Yankees
Dallas Braden2007–201124thOakland Athletics
Dustin Richardson2009–20105thBoston Red Sox
Josh Tomlin2010–present19thCleveland Indians
Zach Stewart2011–20123rdCincinnati Reds
AJ Ramos2012–2018, 2020–202121stFlorida Marlins
Roger Kieschnick2013–20143rdSan Francisco Giants
Nathan Karns2013–2017, 201912thWashington Nationals
Chad Bettis2013–20192ndColorado Rockies
Danny Coulombe2014–2018, 2020–present25thLos Angeles Dodgers
Kelby Tomlinson2015–201812thSan Francisco Giants
Robert Dugger2019–present18thSeattle Mariners
Parker Mushinski2022–present7thHouston Astros
Davis Martin2022–present14thChicago White Sox
Caleb Kilian2022–present77thSan Francisco Giants
Josh Jung2022–present1stTexas Rangers
John McMillon2022–present11thDetroit Tigers
Jace Jung2024-present1stDetroit Tigers

Pro Red Raiders in other sports

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2008 Baseball Media Guide. 2008-07-06. Texas Tech University Official Athletic Site. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081029221321/http://texastech.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/text/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2008mediaguide. 2008-10-29.
  2. Web site: Texas Tech Year-by-Year Scores. 2008-07-06. Texas Tech University Official Athletic Site. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081029221326/http://texastech.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/archive/text-m-basebl-scores.html. 2008-10-29.
  3. Web site: Larry Hays steps down as Texas Tech baseball's head coach. 2008-07-04. The Daily Toreador. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080916191558/http://media.www.dailytoreador.com/media/storage/paper870/news/2008/06/03/Sports/Larry.Hays.Steps.Down.As.Tech.Baseballs.Head.Coach-3377769.shtml. 2008-09-16.
  4. Web site: Larry Hays ends 22-year love affair with Texas Tech baseball. 2008-07-04. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. George Watson. https://web.archive.org/web/20120303192416/http://lubbockonline.com/stories/060308/spo_285725492.shtml. 2012-03-03. dead.
  5. Web site: Dan Spencer Named Head Baseball Coach at Texas Tech. 2008-07-04. Big 12 Conference.
  6. Texas Tech Enters CWS Ranked Seventh Nationally . Texas Tech University . June 11, 2014 . June 11, 2014.
  7. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/text/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/BB2013MediaSupplement.pdf
  8. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/tex/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/ba-0910-mg-history.pdf
  9. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/college/texas_tech_university_baseball_players.shtml Baseball Almanac: Texas Tech University Baseball Players Who Made it to the Major Leagues