Red Raiders Host No. 3 Nebraska In Big 12 Home Finale

First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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Texas Tech hosts No. 3 Nebraska this weekend at Dan Law Field.

Texas Tech hosts No. 3 Nebraska this weekend at Dan Law Field.

May 11, 2005

Texas Tech (30-18; 8-11) vs. No. 3 Nebraska (39-11; 14-7)
May 13-15, 2005 - 6:30 p.m./6:30 p.m./Noon
Dan Law Field - Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech vs. Nebraska - Gameday Central

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TECH HOSTS NO. 3 NEBRASKA IN FINAL HOME BIG 12 SERIES
Texas Tech finds itself in a battle for a Big 12 Conference Tournament bid this weekend as the Red Raiders play host to the third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in a three-game series at Dan Law Field. Tech and Nebraska will get the series rolling with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday night before continuing at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. The series finale on Sunday has been pushed back to a noon start in order to accommodate Nebraska's travel plans back to Lincoln.

The Red Raiders enter the weekend with an overall record of 30-18 after taking a midweek game from New Mexico State Tuesday night. Senior catcher Cooper Fouts plated three runs in the eighth to break a 4-4 tie and Tech held on 8-4. Tech is in a serious search for momentum after dropping a non-conference series at home this past weekend against Dallas Baptist. Tech won the Friday night game of that series before DBU rallied to take the final two games.

A solid run by Texas Tech over the final two weeks of the regular season could put the Red Raiders back into contention for an at-large spot in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Tech has an unofficial RPI of 50 this week but a couple of series' wins over Nebraska and Oklahoma would certainly put the Raiders back into the race.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers come into the weekend with an overall record of 39-11 and 14-11 mark in Big 12 play. The Huskers won a three-game series at home last weekend against Missouri (2-1) but dropped a midweek game to Creighton (5-3) on Tuesday night. Nebraska and Creighton played in front of a crowd of 20,011 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. The Huskers are currently second in the Big 12 standings and just one game behind first-place Baylor.

Tickets for the three-game series can be purchased in advance by calling the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office at (806) 742-TECH or 1-888-GOBIG12. Fans can also purchase game tickets from any area United Supermarkets/Select-A-Seat location or online at www.texastech.com.

FULLER NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Texas Tech senior center fielder Cody Fuller has been named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine University Baseball Academic All-District VI team for his contributions in the classroom.

Fuller, a senior from Smithson Valley, was one of three outfielders selected to this year's team and has totaled a 3.48 GPA as a communications/political science major. He just recently picked up the award for Texas Tech Male Student-Athlete-of-the-Year and is now eligible for Academic All-America honors. He will graduate from Texas Tech on Saturday when commencement exercises are held at the United Spirit Arena.

On the playing field, Fuller is the only Red Raider to make all 48 starts this season and has a season batting average of .324 along with eight doubles, two triples and 24 stolen bases.

TWO RED RAIDERS EARN DIPLOMAS
The Texas Tech baseball program will have two seniors graduate on Saturday as part of 2005 Spring Commencement at the United Spirit Arena. Center fielder Cody Fuller has earned his degree in communications while pitcher Tanner McElroy will get his bachelor's in marketing. The entire senior class will be honored prior to the Saturday game against Nebraska.

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT UPDATE
Texas Tech is currently in seventh place in the Big 12 standings and is a half-game behind sixth-place Oklahoma. The Red Raiders need to finish in the top eight to secure a spot in the upcoming Big 12 Conference Tournament at Oklahoma City's Bricktown Ballpark May 25-28. Texas A&M and Kansas State are currently in the ninth and 10th spots respectively. The only time Tech has failed to make the Big 12 Tournament was in 2003 when the tourney was last played in Oklahoma City.

CALLENDER HAS THE HOT STICK
Junior second baseman Joey Callender might very well be the most dangerous six-hole hitter in the country. Callender enters the weekend series against Nebraska with a commanding .397 batting average and has tallied multiple hit games in each of Tech's last three contests.

Callender has been one of Tech's top offensive threats all season long as he continues to lead the squad in multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games. His 22 multiple-hit games and 14 multiple-RBI contests have helped give him 47 RBI on the season and that ranks sixth in the Big 12. Against New Mexico State on Tuesday night, he drove in two runs on three hits and that helped lead Tech to an 8-4 win over the Aggies.

Callender continues to remain on the NCBWA All-America ballots and is one of 19 second basemen across the country vying for All-America status from that organization.

ALL-AMERICA CANDIDATE
The decision to return to college for his senior year has turned out to be a good one for shortstop Cameron Blair. Blair is one of the top senior shortstops in the nation this season and will be a candidate for more Post-season awards to match those he earned in 2004.

Blair comes into the week with an overall batting average of .369 along with nine doubles and three triples. His 14 home runs on the season is tied for second in the league and is tied for sixth nationally. Of Blair's 14 home runs this season, eight have come in the rugged Big 12 and that is the best mark in the league. He leads the team with 52 RBI and he now totals 133 in his career.

RAIDERS ON THE PROWL
Opposing pitchers and catchers--BEWARE--Tech is on the prowl again in 2005. After sporting the quickest team in the Big 12 in 2004, the Red Raiders are looking for a repeat. Texas Tech leads the league with 124 stolen bases and that is 50 more than second place Texas who has 74 on the year. Tech stole 13 bags in the weekend series against Dallas Baptist.

Tech has three players with 20-plus stolen bags in Cody Fuller (24), Chris Williams (23) and Cameron Blair (20). The Red Raiders have averaged 110 stolen bases over the last four seasons.

TECH vs. NEBRASKA
Texas Tech and Nebraska will be meeting for the 26th, 27th and 28th times on the diamond this weekend as the Huskers come to Dan Law Field for a three-game series. Nebraska leads the all-time series with Texas Tech 14-11 and have won five of the last six three-game series' played. Tech took 2-of-3 from the Huskers last year in Lincoln and that snapped a five series win streak by Nebraska. The two teams only played one game during the 1999 season due to inclement weather and Tech came out on top 10-2.

The 25-game history between these two schools has been very close as the Huskers have scored just two more runs than the Red Raiders with 173 compared to 171 by Tech. Texas Tech has had more success against Nebraska in Lubbock with a record of 7-6 while posting a mark of 5-8 in Lincoln. Tech's last win against Nebraska in Lubbock came back in 2003 when Tech won 16-9 in the Friday game of that series. That game is also the highest scoring contest in series history.

FIVE GAMES, FIVE DAYS
Texas Tech begins a five-game stretch on Friday night when the Red Raiders open a three-game series with Nebraska. Tech will play five games in five days including a Monday makeup game with New Mexico and a Tuesday game against New Mexico State in Las Cruces. The Red Raiders actually close out the 2005 regular season by playing eight games over 10 days as Tech will travel to Norman to play Oklahoma in a three-game series, May 20-22.

CARNLINE LOCKS UP FRIDAY ROLE
Junior right-hander Billy Carnline has pitched himself into the Friday night starting role for Texas Tech. Carnline has turned in outstanding back-to-back outings and will get the starting nod in the series opener against Nebraska ace Joba Chamberlain.

Despite getting the loss in the Friday game at Baylor, Carnline dueled Trey Taylor for the better part of five innings. He topped out at 95 mph in that game and that was a season high. Carnline followed up the Baylor game with an outstanding start against Dallas Baptist on Friday. He held a powerful Patriot offense to one earned run on eight hits over eight innings of work.

CHANGES TO THE LINEUP
Tech Head Coach Larry Hays continues to try and find ways to generate more offense for the Red Raiders - including another revamped lineup card. Hays' latest changes came in the Sunday game of the Baylor series when he put Cameron Blair back into the leadoff position while dropping Cody Fuller to the eight hole.

Blair has plenty of experience as the leadoff hitter with 22 games under his belt this season and 69 in his career. Over the course of 22 games this season as the leadoff hitter, Blair has a .372 average compared to Fuller's .245 average through 26 games.

RED RAIDER TIDBITS

  • Texas Tech currently has three former players on Major League rosters...RHP Travis Smith was called up this week to the Florida Marlins while Keith Ginter is with the Oakland A's and Josh Bard with the Cleveland Indians.
  • The Red Raiders have won six-straight games on two different occasions this year. The longest losing streak was a three-game stretch between March 20 and March 25. Tech's longest losing streak in Big 12 play was a five-game stretch that began on March 20 against Texas A&M.
  • Senior shortstop Cameron Blair had his 14-game hit streaked snapped in the Saturday game against Dallas Baptist. The Patriots held the potent Tech offense to just three hits on the evening and all three came from junior second baseman Joey Callender.
  • Cameron Blair hit his 14th home run of the season last Saturday against Dallas Baptist and that ties his career high that he set in his first year at Tech in 2004. His 14 home runs is five more than any other shortstop in the nation.
  • The third and final note in the "Ode To Cameron Trilogy" is this: Of his 101 career games at Texas Tech, 44 of those have been multiple-hit games and 32 of them have been multiple-RBI.
  • Junior right-hander Brian Wyatt made his first relief appearance on Tuesday night since the Northern Iowa game back on March 5. Wyatt earned the win against New Mexico State by pitching the final 1 1/3 innings allowing just one hit.
  • A series win over Nebraska would mark the first time in Big 12 history that the Red Raiders have won all of its home Big 12 series'. Tech has never won all of its home Big 12 series' since the inception of the conference back in 1997.
  • Texas Tech will play its final home game of the season on Monday afternoon when the Red Raiders host New Mexico at 2 p.m. This game was originally scheduled for May 3 but heavy rains forced the postponement. <
  • The Red Raiders picked up win No. 30 of the 2005 season on Tuesday night against New Mexico State and that gives Tech 13-straight 30-plus win seasons.

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