Fast foils GCU bats as Texas Tech wins 6-1
Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock has spent much of the season wanting to see Taber Fast pitch the way he pitched in the fall: throwing strikes, changing speeds, efficient and in command.
That promising freshman finally resurfaced.
Fast pitched into the seventh inning allowing only two hits Tuesday night, giving the 18th-ranked Red Raiders a more-than-quality start in a 6-1 home victory against Grand Canyon.
"That's a lot closer to the guy we saw the whole fall, really," said Tadlock, whose team improved to 26-12.
The lefthander from Olympia, Washington went into the game with a 6.04 earned-run average, having allowed earned runs in four of his previous five appearances and six of his previous eight.
He left with a 5-0 lead after hitting the leadoff batter in the seventh. Brandon Beckel let the inherited runner score on a Zack Gregory double, the lone run on Fast's ledger.
"I feel like it was more of a confidence thing with me," Fast said. "Going into this game, I feel like I had more confidence and it was more of a mentality thing as well, knowing I can go out and compete against these guys and this level and just trusting my pitches."
In late March, Tadlock said Fast was one of the team's top three pitchers in the fall. He was, in fact, Tech's Sunday starter in the first two Big 12 series against Oklahoma State and Texas. Those were his third and fourth starts of the season, but with Fast having walked 16 in 18 1/3 innings to that point, coaches took him out of the weekend rotation.
Now he has back-to-back scoreless outings.
Against the Lopes, he showed some ability to pitch out of trouble. He walked two batters in the first, but got a double-play ball and a groundout. He had two on with one out in the second after a walk and an error, then struck out two batters to end the inning. And he left the Lopes' Maxwell Andeel stranded at third after a one-out triple in the fourth.
"Taber's a competitor," Tadlock said. "I really thought early on he probably didn't have great feel, but competed through it, executed some pitches when he needed to and found some rhythm there, definitely in the stretch."
Fast, Beckel and Kyle Robinson, who pitched the ninth, allowed five hits. And Grand Canyon's isn't just any lineup. Leadoff batter Homer Bush Jr., son of the former Major League outfielder, is a top-100 prospect for this year's draft. No. 3-hole hitter Jacob Wilson, son of 12-year Major League shortstop Jack Wilson, is a top-10 prospect, the rankings according to MLB.com. Cleanup batter Zach Yorke came into Tuesday as the Western Athletic Conference co-leader in runs batted in.
The Lopes won twice in a three-game WAC series over the weekend at Abilene Christian, scoring 14 runs in back-to-back games, albeit losing one.
"They scored a bunch of runs over in Abilene," Tadlock said. "I thought all those (Tech) guys executed pitches, and obviously to shorten a game with Beckel and Robinson is always kind of nice. And Taber allowed us to do that by giving us six innings. Not sure he couldn't have kept going. He was very efficient, 72 pitches in six innings."
Tech had a 4-0 lead five batters into the game on two-run homers by Ty Coleman and Gavin Kash. Coleman's blast to left scored Nolen Hester, who walked. Kash's drive to right scored Kevin Bazzell, who singled.
Coleman homered again his third time up, a leadoff shot in the fifth.
The two teams play the series finale at noon Wednesday.
Quick hits
Tech center fielder Dillon Carter, out since March 12 because of a broken wrist, has been cleared to return and could be on the active roster for this weekend's home series against Baylor.
"Whether he'll be in the lineup, we'll see," Tadlock said. "I asked in the top of the 9th if he could play defense, and we basically said, 'Let's wait 'til the weekend.' So he's cleared. We're in a good spot with him." ...
Second baseman Austin Green was a fixture in the Tech cleanup spot all season until he missed the last two games of the North Dakota State series on April 7 and April 8. Since returning, he's batted fifth once, sixth three times and seventh on Tuesday.
"He had some injuries," Tadlock said. "One time it was a hamstring. He's just been dinged up, and just really felt like to get him going again, it's a good spot for him. I like the idea of, if he's coming up after those guys (in the middle of the order), there's going to be some guys on base for sure, which could be good. But he could slide right back up there just as fast."
Green and Bazzell are tied for fourth in the Big 12 in runs batted in with 41.
TEXAS TECH 6, GRAND CANYON 1
Grand Canyon 000 000 100 — 1 5 1
Texas Tech 400 010 01x — 6 8 1
Young, Smith (2), Markl (4), Triplett (7), Thornton (8) and Sheehan, Buckley (7); Fast, Beckel (7), Robinson (9) and Maxcey. W—Fast (1-0). L—Young (0-2). 2B—Grand Canyon, Gregory (10). 3B—Grand Canyon, Andeel (2). HR—Texas Tech, Coleman 2 (3), Kash (17). Records: Grand Canyon 20-16, Texas Tech 26-12.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Freshman lefthander Taber Fast foils GCU bats as Texas Tech wins 6-1
