No. 11 Red Raiders blast past Jayhawks
LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 11 Texas Tech used 16 hits to power past the Jayhawks Saturday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park, as the Kansas baseball team dropped its second-straight contest to the Red Raiders, 19-4.
Texas Tech (21-8, 5-3 Big 12) hit up Kansas (15-15, 1-7 Big 12) starter Ryan Zeferjahn (3-2) for nine runs off five hits, four walks and two hit batters in three and 1/3 innings of work.
Zeferjahn never found his rhythm on the mound and got knocked out of the game in the fourth inning, wherein he gave up seven runs. Texas Tech went on to score six more to end the frame plating 13.
Freshmen Hunter Freese and Kahi Bisho combined to record the final two outs in the fourth, allowing six runs in the process.
Sophomore third baseman Skyler Messinger sparked a Jayhawk rally in the sixth inning after he roped a triple off Red Raider starter Caleb Kilian (4-2). Freshman outfielder Casey Burnham followed with a RBI-single before Blake Shinkle and Dylan Ditzenberger drew back-to-back walks.
Junior Brooks Asher and redshirt-sophomore Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi came off the bench and connected for back-to-back singles. Sophomore Blaine Ray drew the RBI-walk and rounded out the four-spot and scoring for Kansas.
QUOTES
Head coach Ritch Price
On Ryan Zeferjahn’s performance:
“That is the first bad outing of the year that Ryan Zeferjahn has had. He has been absolutely fabulous up until today. He was off with his command and got behind in a lot of counts. This is a tough place to pitch if you are going to throw fastballs in fastball counts.”
On the pitching struggles today:
“We had too many walks and hit batters today. We just set the table for Texas Tech to keep putting up crooked numbers. I can’t remember a time we ever gave up that many runs in one inning.”
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks and Red Raiders meet for the final game of the series Sunday, April 7 at 1 p.m. inside Rip Griffin Park.
