Molina's strong start leads Tech over Gonzaga

Of the four pitchers who started the lions' share of Texas Tech's 61 baseball games last year, Andrew Morris, Brandon Birdsell and Chase Hampton all went in the first six rounds of last summer's Major League draft.

Mason Molina need not do the work of three men, but the Red Raiders can sure use him to set a tone for this year's staff. The sophomore lefthander answered the bell in that regard in his first start of the 2023 season.

Molina yielded one hit in five shutout innings and 3-4-5 hitters Kevin Bazzell, Austin Green and Ty Coleman drove in two runs apiece as No. 22 Texas Tech beat Gonzaga 10-3 Saturday for its second home victory in a row in the season-opening baseball series.

"Birdie and Andrew were so consistent from week to week," Molina said. "There wasn't a day where they were completely off and couldn't find the strike zone, and so I think I'm just trying to emulate that and keep a solid routine and go after it."

Molina (1-0) struck out one batter in each of the first three innings and fanned two each in the fourth and fifth, departing after 76 pitches with a 4-0 lead.

"It was a combination of everything," he said. "I was able to land the off-speed stuff and focus on the strike zone, so kind of kept them off-balance pretty much the whole game."

Molina said earlier in the week that challenging hitters is a priority for him. Describing his self-talk, he said, "It's more like 'I'm going to come right after you, and you're going to have to prove to me you can hit it. I'm not going to go around you at all.'

"I think that's the biggest thing, that confidence of, 'I'm better than you. You're going to have to prove to me that you can beat me.' "

Though his record was only 2-5 last season, Molina pitched to a 3.90 earned-run average and struck out 71 over 57 2/3 innings. He began the season in the starting rotation, then pitched out of the bullpen after Hampton got on track. This year, the Red Raiders need to be able to count on him all season in the rotation.

Saturday was a good test. Gonzaga has been an NCAA tournament team each of the past two seasons, and Molina mowed through the Bulldogs' order twice without much trouble. After giving up a second-inning single to Brock Bozett, Molina picked off the Gonzaga left fielder.

In the fifth, he walked two and had runners at the corners with two outs but struck out No. 9 hitter Ezra Samperi.

It's the kind of performance expected of Molina, who was recruited by Oregon State and UCLA coming out of his high school in Orange County, California.

"I grew up 20 minutes from the beach," Molina said, "and (Tech assistant coach) J-Bob (Thomas) did his thing and got me to the middle of West Texas."

New leadoff batter Nolen Hester has reached base seven times, four on walks, in the first two games. The lefthanded-hitting left fielder scored three times Saturday. Molina this week described facing Hester as a "miserable" experience for a pitcher.

"I've been doing this (in college) for five years now," Hester said, "and I wouldn't describe myself as a dangerous hitter. But when I go up there, I have an approach that I've stuck to for a long time, and I've worked really hard on refining it. My goal when I get in the box is to get on first base, no matter what, whether it's going up there and hitting the ball hard or going up there and drawing out a walk."

Hester transferred to Tech after he started 115 games over the past four years at Wofford, but he went to high school at Midland Christian through his junior year and then was a teammate his senior season at Rockwall-Heath with former Tech player Cole Stilwell.

"Cole is one of the main reasons I'm at Tech," Hester said. "He called me through the transfer portal process and (said), 'Hey, I'm going to get you hooked up with J-Bob.' And so, it was kind of off and running from there."

The top two hitters in the Red Raiders' order set the table Saturday, Hester with a single and three walks and true freshman Gage Harrelson with two hits and a walk. The middle of the order pounced on the opportunities.

Bazzell drove in runs with a sacrifice fly and a single, Green with a double and a groundout and Coleman with a two-run double in a five-run sixth inning.

"We have a lot of really polished hitters here," Hester said.

Gonzaga's three pitchers issued 11 walks. Starter Nate Deschryver (0-1) set that tone with seven walks. Only Harrelson and Green had more than one hit.

"It looks like the guys did a good job of trying to get their pitch and staying in the strike zone," Tech coach Tim Tadlock said, "and so they kind of spread it out a little bit and had a few big hits."

The two teams are scheduled to play again at 1 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. Monday.

TEXAS TECH 10, GONZAGA 3

Gonzaga 000 000 030 — 3 5 0

Texas Tech 002 205 01x — 10 10 0

Deschryver, Moffitt (4), Weeldreyer (7) and Samperi; Molina, Fast (6), Lopez (8), Petty (9) and Maxcey. W—Molina (1-0). L—Deschryver (0-1). 2B—Gonzaga, Apodaca (1); Texas Tech, Green (1), Coleman (1). Records: Gonzaga 0-2, Texas Tech 2-0.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Molina throws 5 shutout innings, leading Tech over Gonzaga 10-3