Texas Tech looking to be road warriors in baseball regional
STATESBORO, Ga. — The Texas Tech Red Raiders embraced their rare road baseball trip for an NCAA Regional.
The Red Raiders wore cowboy hats and western garb coming off the airplane to south Georgia. But not coach Tim Tadlock.
"I didn’t get the memo," Tadlock joked at Thursday’s press conference.
But there wasn’t much joking for Tech after a 75-minute practice in 92-degree heat.
For the first time since 2014, the third-seeded Red Raiders are on the road for a regional. They’ll open play in Statesboro, Georgia, home of Georgia Southern, in the double-elimination Statesboro Regional against second-seeded Notre Dame at 1 p.m. CDT Friday.
Top-seeded Georgia Southern (40-18) will meet fourth-seeded North Carolina-Greensboro (34-28) in the regional’s other first-round game at 6 p.m.
The two losing teams will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday, and the winners at 6 p.m.
"We’ll stick together and we’ll fight through all the adversity," Tech shortstop Kurt Wilson said about the road experience.
Tadlock didn’t seem concerned about the new scenery.
"We’ve played well on the road late in the year, and we’re excited about it," he said.
The Red Raiders (37-20) slipped from their top-10 ranking and potential regional host to a No. 3 seed by losing four of their last six games, including two of three in the Big 12 tournament. Their RPI ranking No. 45 was da
"As far as the season goes, the regular season is over," Tadlock said. "To me, the season starts now."
Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett sees a formidable foe with multiple areas of concern. The Red Raiders are led by Big 12 pitcher of the year Brandon Birdsell (8-3, 3.00 earned-run average) and an offense paced by second baseman Jace Jung (.340, 14 home runs, 56 runs batted in) and Wilson (.329-14-63).
Tech averaged more than eight runs a game.
"They’re a complete team," Jarrett said. "They wouldn’t be in this position if they weren’t capable of winning and, quite frankly, winning a national championship."
Notre Dame (35-14) placed second in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The Fighting Irish pitching, led by first-team all-ACC pitcher John Michael Bertrand (8-2, 2.39 ERA), is 12th in Division I with a 3.91 earned run average.
Bertrand will start the opener for Notre Dame.
David LaManna led the Irish with a .367 batting average. Brooks Coetzee supplied power with a team-leading 11 homers and 42 RBIs.
Tadlock said he’ll start Andrew Morris (7-2, 4.72 ERA) in the opener, keeping the Red Raiders' normal rotation with Birdsell ready to go in game two on Saturday.
“There are 64 teams in this tournament," Tadlock said, "and they’d be blessed to have these two guys going for them (as a No. 1 and No. 2).”
Award season
Birdsell and Jung were named second-team all-Americans on Thursday by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
The duo represented Texas Tech as picks for the all-Big 12 first team on May 24. Birdsell was the league's pitcher of the year as well.
It marked Birdsell's first time to be named an all-American, while Jung added to his seven all-America selections a season ago. Collegiate Baseball pegged Jung to its first team in 2021 and named him a freshman all-American in 2020.
This is the seventh year in a row Collegiate Baseball has had someone from Tech on its all-America teams. The one in the previous years were Cal Conley (2021), Jung (2020-21), Brian Klein (2020), Micah Dallas (2020), Josh Jung (2018-19), Grant Little (2018), Steven Gingery (2017) and Eric Gutierrez (2016).
Birdsell, 8-3 with a 3.00 earned-run average, has struck out 102 batters in 78 innings and has an opponent batting average of .218.
Jung's 58 walks rank fifth in Division I and contribute to his .487 on-base percentage.
College baseball
Who: Texas Tech vs. Notre Dame
What: NCAA Statesboro Regional
When: 1 p.m. CDT Friday
Where: J.I. Clements Stadium, Statesboro, Georgia
Records: Texas Tech 37-20, Notre Dame 35-14
Rankings in National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll: Notre Dame No. 9, Tech No. 11
Regional seeds: Notre Dame No. 2, Texas Tech No. 3
TV/online streaming: ACC Network/ESPN+
Starting pitchers: Notre Dame LHP John Michael Bertrand (8-2, 2.39 earned-run average); Texas Tech RHP Andrew Morris (7-2, 4.72)
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NCAA STATESBORO REGIONAL
at J.I. Clements Stadium, Statesboro, Georgia
Seeds, records in parentheses
All times CDT
Friday's First-Round Games
Notre Dame (2) (35-14) vs. Texas Tech (3) (37-20), 1 p.m.
Georgia Southern (1) (40-18) vs. UNC Greensboro (4) (34-28), 6 p.m.
Saturday's Games
Elimination Bracket Semifinal
Game 3: Notre Dame-Texas Tech loser vs. Georgia Southern-UNC Greensboro loser, 1 p.m.
Winners' Bracket Final
Game 4: Notre Dame-Texas Tech winner vs. Georgia Southern-UNC Greensboro winner, 6 p.m.
Sunday's Games
Elimination Bracket Final
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 1 p.m.
Championship
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6 p.m.
Monday's Game
(If necessary): Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, if Game 5 winner wins Game 6, 5 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech looking to be road warriors in baseball regional
