University Texas Tech University Nickname Red Raiders Founded 1926 Conference Big 12 Conference | Location Lubbock, TX Colors Scarlet and Black Head coach Tim Tadlock | |
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Home stadium Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park
(Capacity: 4,801) Home ground Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park | ||
The Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team represents Texas Tech University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team competes in the Big 12 Conference and plays at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. Their head coach is Tim Tadlock and he is in his 5th season with the Red Raiders.
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Early years (1926–1929)
Behind football and men's basketball, baseball is the third oldest sport at Texas Tech. The initial team organized in 1925 and the first game, an 18–9 victory over West Texas State Teachers College, was played in 1926. In the following game, the team suffered its first ever loss, 14–9 to the team it had previously defeated. The third game in the team's history—this one against Daniel Baker College—ended in a 3–3 tie after 11 innings.
E. Y. Freeland was the first coach of the Red Raiders, though the team was known as the Matadors at the time. He remained in the position for three years before R. Grady Higginbotham took the role. Higginbotham coached for only two years. From 1930 to 1953, Texas Tech did not field an intercollegiate baseball team.
Revival era (1954–1986)
When the program returned in 1954, Beattie Feathers became the head coach of the Red Raiders and remained until 1960. He was followed by Berl Huffman (1961–1967), Kal Segrist (1968–1983), and Gary Ashby (1984–1986). During this time, the Red Raiders only had seven winning seasons. Texas Tech joined the Southwest Conference in 1968, but experienced little success. Through the 1986 season, the Red Raiders only finished as high as third in conference play twice, and had only three winning conference records.
Larry Hays era (1987–2008)
Larry Hays took over the Red Raiders baseball team in 1987. Under Hays, Texas Tech endured only two losing seasons, his first and last, and enjoyed their greatest success in baseball. Hays took Texas Tech from having a losing tradition to being a national contender. When Hays started with the Red Raiders, the team's overall record stood at 550–576–5. By the time he left, he was the fourth-winningest coach in college baseball history and improved the team's record to 1,365–1,054–8. The Red Raiders reached eight straight NCAA tournaments from 1995–2002 and again in 2004, three of which were held at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. They also won the 1995 Southwest Conference championship, and the inaugural Big 12 Conference championship in 1997. The Hays lead Red Raiders also won the SWC Tournament in 1995, and the Big 12 Tournament in 1998.
Dan Spencer era (2009–2012)
On June 2, 2008, Larry Hays announced his retirement, paving the way for assistant coach Dan Spencer to take over. Spencer, a former Texas Tech player, won back-to-back national championships as an assistant head coach for the Oregon State Beavers.
Tim Tadlock era (2013–present)
Tadlock was a starting shortstop for the Red Raiders during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. Tadlock previously led the Grayson College Vikings to back-to-back NJCAA World Series championships in the team's five appearances over his 9 seasons as head coach.
In 2012, Tim Tadlock was hired as associate head coach for the Red Raiders under Dan Spencer. The following season saw Tadlock replace Spencer as the ninth head coach of the Red Raiders following Spencer's firing. Tadlock's first season saw the team finish 26–30, and 8th of 9 in Big 12 play. Prior to the 2014 season, the Red Raiders were selected to finish in 8th place in the Big 12 Conference in the preseason polls. In only his second season, the Red Raiders won their first NCAA Tournament Regional Championship, defeating the Columbia Lions and host team Miami Hurricanes to advance to the program's first Super Regional appearance.
The team would host College of Charleston in the Lubbock Super Regional before shutting them out twice in two 1–0 games, earning the programs first berth in the College World Series on the back of a 0.65 post season earned run average produced by assistant coach Ray Hayward's pitching staff.
Season-by-season results
Source:
Individual award winners
Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year
Big 12 Conference Player of the Year
Big 12 Conference Tournament MOP
Skip Bertman Award
Southwest Conference Coach of the Year
Southwest Conference Tournament MVP
NCAA Division I Regional Tournament MOP
Red Raiders in the Major Leagues
At least 25 former Texas Tech Red Raiders went on to play Major League Baseball. Seven Red Raiders were taken in the 2008 MLB Draft and three were drafted in 2009.