March 31, 2006
Box Score
LUBBOCK, Texas - Nick Cassavechia struck out Kyle Martin with the tying run at first to end the game and end Baylor's eight-year drought at Dan Law Field as the Bears defeated Texas Tech 2-1 in Friday's Big 12 Conference series opener. Baylor (19-8, 4-3) had lost nine straight at Texas Tech (20-10, 2-4) since taking two of three in 1998. The Bears have won six consecutive Big 12 series openers, going 10-2 in such games since the start of the 2005 season.
Baylor took the game's first lead on a two-out Ben Booker RBI double in the top of the second. The score remained 1-0 until the eighth when Zach Dillon plated Chase Gerdes with a two-out single up the middle.
Dillon's hit proved to be the difference as the Red Raiders got a run on two hits in the bottom of the ninth. Blair Wilkins singled through the left side with one out, moved to second on a groundout, took third on a balk and scored on Trey Stewart's infield single. However, that was all Tech could muster against Cassavechia, who notched his second save of the season.
The game was the definition of a pitchers' duel as Baylor's Ryan LaMotta and Texas Tech's Miles Morgan treated the Dan Law Field crowd to a pair of strong outings.
LaMotta (4-2) proved the better, holding Tech scoreless on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 7.2 innings. Morgan (4-3) was touched for two runs on nine hits and no walks with 11 strikeouts in a complete-game loss.
With his strikeout total, LaMotta moved into eighth place on Baylor's career strikeouts list. He now has 227 career strikeouts, passing Mark McCormick (223), Brett Bergman (224), Zane Carlson (225) and Glenn Nevill (225) in Friday's game.
Tech had runners at first and second with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. Brian Capps flied out to center, and Gerdes threw out Willie Rueda trying to advance to third on the play. Cassavechia then relieved LaMotta and got Tyler Reves to fly out to left, ending the inning and the threat.
Gerdes snapped an 0-for-10 stretch with singles in each of his final two at bats, recording Baylor's only multiple-hit game.
The Bears and the Red Raiders continue their three-game series Saturday at 2 p.m. CST. It will be dueling southpaws as Baylor sends Cory VanAllen (3-2, 3.53 ERA) to the mound, opposite Texas Tech's Colt Hynes (2-0, 0.42 ERA).
NOTES: Texas Tech leads the all-time series 65-62, including a 40-20 advantage in games played at Lubbock. The Bears are 15-24 against the Red Raiders under head coach Steve Smith and 13-17 since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997. ... Seth Fortenberry (eight games), Russo (five) and Dillon (three) all extended hitting streaks, while Beamer Weems saw his five-game streak end. Fortenberry's streak is the longest by a Baylor player this season.
