LUBBOCK, Texas — BYU baseball is in Lubbock this week to face Texas Tech, May 7-9, at Rip Griffin Park. Game one on Thursday and game two on Friday are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT, while Saturday’s contest is slated for 1 p.m. CT.
BROADCAST PLANS. All three games of the series will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County.
WEEK IN REVIEW. BYU (24-23, 12-12) is fresh off a 5-2 win over UNLV Tuesday evening in a non-conference game in Las Vegas. Nine Cougar pitchers combined to strikeout 14 Rebels in the win, the second-highest team total of the season. Prior to the midweek game in Las Vegas, BYU dropped a Big 12 series 1-2 to Utah (6-4, 1-8, 3-8) in Provo.
KNOW THE FOE. The Red Raiders (24-24, 7-17) enter the upcoming three-game series with an 18-11 record at home. TTU is coming off a 9-7 win over DBU on Tuesday and went 1-2 over the weekend at Baylor (1-8, 9-10, 8-3) in Waco, Texas.
BIG 12 RANKINGS. BYU is currently 12-12 in Big 12 play, good for eighth place and one game back of sixth place Cincinnati and TCU. At 7-17, Texas Tech is tied for 12th with Arizona.
SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Texas Tech will meet for just the 15th time on Thursday. TTU leads the all-time series with the Cougars 9-5 and are 8-2 in games played in Lubbock. BYU won the last series with the Red Raiders 2-1 in Provo late last season with scores of 13-4, 6-5 and 4-7.
BAT CATS. As a team, BYU enters the UNLV game hitting .280 with 62 home runs and a slugging percentage of .466. Sophomore first baseman Ezra McNaughton is hitting .340 and leads the Cougar offense in just about every statistical category. McNaughton is ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in hits (66), doubles (13), total bases (118) and home runs (13).
ON THE HILL. BYU will start lefthanded senior Wayland Crane on the mound in game one Thursday. Crane has started 12 games and is 2-3 on the year with a 5.66 ERA. He has thrown 47 2/3 innings and recorded 40 strikeouts. Last Thursday versus Utah, Crane had one of his best outings of the year, going 5.0 innings while allowing just one earned run with two strikeouts for the win.
Senior righthander Garrison Sumner who has appeared in 12 games with eight starts will start game two on Friday. He is 3-3 on the year with a team leading 53 1/3 innings pitched and 67 strikeouts. BYU’s game-three starter will be determined later in the week.
UP NEXT. Following the Texas Tech series, BYU heads home for the final Big 12 regular-season series of the year against No. 7 ranked Kansas, May 14-16, at Miller Park. All three games of the BYU-KU series will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County.