Big 12 Baseball Weekend Recap: Tech, TCU Sweep And Shake Up Standings
Whoa! Going into this past weekend, Oklahoma State had a three-game advantage in the conference loss column with six games left to play. It looked like the regular-season title was theirs. Texas Tech, who has been great at home but has struggled on the road this season, traveled to Stillwater and created chaos in the Big 12 Standings. Tech came away with a clean sweep on the road.
Meanwhile, TCU held serve with a sweep of their own on the road at Kansas. Oklahoma won their series over West Virginia, moving the Mountaineers out of contention for the title while keeping the Sooners’ hope alive.
Tech is a half-game back of TCU with one weekend left to play but has a 1-game advantage in the loss column. TCU has completed Big 12 play. TCU, Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State all have a chance of at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title.
Here is a recap of this past weekend’s conference series (rankings are based on last week’s Top 25 from D1Baseball.com)
Kansas (20-32, 4-17) vs. TCU (32-18, 16-8)
TCU sweeps the series 3-0
After several weeks of TCU’s offense stalling, the bats came alive in Lawrence. TCU swept the series and outscored Kansas a combined 53-11 over the weekend. With the sweep by Texas Tech over Oklahoma State, TCU moves back to the top of the Big 12 standings. The Frogs play a non-conference series this weekend against Santa Clara. They will have to scoreboard watch to see if they will win the Big 12 outright, share it with Tech, Oklahoma, and/or OSU, or come in second place behind Texas Tech. See our article here for a complete recap of the TCU vs. Kansas series.
Friday: TCU won 15-6. (Winning Pitcher – Cam Brown; Losing Pitcher –Daniel Hegarty)
Saturday: TCU won 30-3. (Winning Pitcher – Marcelo Perez; Losing Pitcher – Cole Larsen)
Sunday: TCU won 8-2. (Winning Pitcher – Augie Mihlbauer; Losing Pitcher – Ryan Vanderhei)
Kansas State (27-23, 8-13) vs. Baylor (24-24, 6-15)
Kansas State won the series 2-1
Both Kansas State and Baylor needed wins this weekend to stay ahead of Kansas to ensure an invitation to next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Arlington. Baylor took the first game of the series with K-State, then won on Friday and Saturday.
Friday: Baylor won 4-2. (Winning Pitcher – Jake Jackson; Losing Pitcher – Blake Adams; Save – Matt Voelker)
Saturday: Kansas State won 7-5. (Winning Pitcher – Blake Corsentino; Losing Pitcher – Mason Marriott; Save – Dylan Phillips)
Sunday: Kansas State won 7-5. (Winning Pitcher – Tyler Ruhl; Losing Pitcher – Voelker; Save – Phillips)
Oklahoma (31-18, 13-8) vs. West Virginia (30-20, 11-10)
Oklahoma won the series 2-1
Once again, Oklahoma’s bats were hot again over the weekend, producing a couple of outcomes that looked more like football scores. Both teams needed a good weekend to stay in the title race. Oklahoma came out the winner. West Virginia will end up in the middle of the back. Oklahoma must sweep their series at Texas Tech this weekend to share the regular-season title.
Friday: Oklahoma won 15-1. (Winning Pitcher – Jake Bennett; Losing Pitcher – Jacob Watters)
Saturday: West Virginia won 9-8. (Winning Pitcher – Ben Hampton; Losing Pitcher – David Sandlin; Save – Trey Braithwaite)
Sunday: Oklahoma won 17-7. (Winning Pitcher – Trevin Michael; Losing Pitcher – Zach Ottinger)
#3 Oklahoma State (34-17, 13-8) vs. #9 Texas Tech (35-16, 14-7)
Texas Tech sweeps the series 3-0
Oklahoma State entered the weekend with a 3-game advantage in the loss column over TCU and a 2-game advantage over Tech. Their goal was to win the series and essentially then win the regular-season title. Texas Tech, who has done well in Lubbock but not as well on the road, quickly upset that plan. Not only did the Red Raiders win the series, but they also came away with the sweep in Stillwater. Now, there are numerous scenarios as to who will be the regular-season champions. Tech controls its destiny. If they can sweep the series in Lubbock against Oklahoma, the title is theirs.
Friday: Texas Tech won 7-6. (Winning Pitcher – Andrew Morris; Losing Pitcher –Justin Campbell; Save – Andrew Devine)
Saturday: Texas Tech won 9-3. (Winning Pitcher – Brandon Birdsell; Losing Pitcher – Bryce Osmond)
Sunday: Texas Tech won 6-4. (Winning Pitcher – Chase Hampton; Losing Pitcher – Trevor Martin; Save – Austin Becker)
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