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With its 2012 season on the line Friday night, the Texas Tech baseball team played a game much like many of its previous 53.
That wasn’t a good thing.
Kansas State left-hander Joe Flattery carved up the Red Raider offense for the Wildcats’ first nine-inning complete game in almost three years, and Tech’s hopes of making the Big 12 Championships next week in Oklahoma City suffered a pedestrian demise in a 5-1 loss at Rip Griffin Park.
“We had high hopes for this group and I feel bad for them,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “For whatever reason — and there are obviously more than one and different things — we didn’t do the things maybe we were capable of doing (this season).”
No players were made available for comment after the game.
The loss drops the Red Raiders to 28-26 on the year and 6-17 in Big 12 play. Coupled with Kansas’ 6-3 win over Missouri, it assures Tech a finish no better than ninth in league play regardless of what happens in today’s 1 p.m. season finale against the Wildcats (26-28, 7-16).
Instead of reaching this week’s goal of clinching a spot in the postseason, Tech clinched its worst conference record since a 5-16 mark during the 1990 Southwest Conference campaign.
“With me (the disappointment) is big, and I’m sure it is with them,” Spencer said. “I know ... they had higher hopes and so it’s disappointing not to get what you want.”
Flattery, who came into the game with a 4.73 ERA, held the Red Raiders scoreless for 82/3 innings, broken only by a two-out RBI single by Bo Altobelli in the ninth. It is Kansas State’s first nine-hit complete game since A.J. Morris beat Rice in the 2009 regional.
Flattery (6-4) retired the Red Raiders in order four times in his nine innings and only twice allowed more than two base runners in a single frame. He scattered a run on six hits and a walk while striking out five.
“That’s Joe Flattery,” Kansas State coach Brad Hill said. “He’s been a guy who’s kept progressing through the year. Early in the year he tried to give us four or five (innings), then he moved to five or six, and then gave us a complete game (Friday). He had great stuff, looked like he wanted to stay out there, wanted the ball and so he progressed through the year again. Great outing by him for us.”
Aside from when Tech scored its only run, the Red Raider offense had just a couple true threats. A pair of two-out singles by Altobelli and Stephen Hagen were stranded in the second, and Reid Redman got as far as third after a one-out double in the sixth.
“I really think you could see it from some of our guys, on the field, and could see it again in their body language as we were making plays even,” Hill said. “We had a lot of confidence in what we were doing and that all stems from the guy on the mound because he looked like he was in total control.”
Kansas State chipped away offensively at Tech starter John Neely and relievers Daniel Coulombe and Shane Broyles in the same methodical way in which it forged a 7-5 victory the night before. And each run just seemed to be another nail in the Red Raiders’ postseason coffin.
Neely (3-7) held the Wildcats to just one earned run on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings, but the bullpen could not keep it close enough.
“I don’t know that we were flat. I know we had a hard time scoring runs,” Spencer said. “We had a hard time putting at-bats together. After we put those two singles together ... we never had two good at-bats in a row to get us going.”
And now, the only place the Red Raiders are going is home for the summer.
KANSAS STATE 5, TEXAS TECH 1
Kansas State Texas Tech
Player ab r h rbi Player ab r h rbi
Kivett 2b 5 0 0 0 McGruder 2b 4 0 0 0
Brown ss 5 0 1 0 Redman 3b 4 0 2 0
King cf 3 1 2 0 Barnes cf 4 1 1 0
Hinkle 1b 5 0 1 1 LeJeune dh 3 0 0 0
Davis lf 5 0 2 0 Altobelli c 4 0 2 1
Sntgte 3b 4 2 2 1 Hagen 1b 3 0 1 0
Kindel dh 2 0 1 0 Bass 1b 1 0 0 0
Giller ph 0 0 0 0 Lopez rf 3 0 0 0
Maas pr 0 0 0 0 Hanslik lf 3 0 0 0
DeBord c 3 0 1 1 Proudfoot ss 2 0 0 0
Witt rf 4 2 1 0 Burleson ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 36 5 11 3 Totals 32 1 6 1
Kansas State 010 001 120 — 5 11 0
Texas Tech 000 000 001 — 1 6 3
E — Redman (7), Hagen 2(2). DP — Kansas State 1, Texas Tech 1. LOB — Kansas State 10, Texas Tech 5. 2B — King (14), Santigate 2(6), Kindel (4), Redman (7), Barnes (17). SH — Santigate (5), DeBord (1). SB — King (15).
Pitching summaries
Pitcher ip h r er bb so
Kansas State
Flattery (W, 6-4) 9 6 1 1 1 5
Texas Tech
Neely (L, 3-7) 5 6 2 1 1 3
Coulombe 2 4 2 1 1 2
Broyles 2 1 1 0 1 2
Neely pitched to 1 batter in the 6th, Coulombe pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
WP —Coulombe (3). HBP — by Coulombe (Giller). U — Alexander, Wiley, Williams. T — 2:18. A — 2,876. Records: Kansas State 26-28, 7-16; Texas Tech 28-26, 6-17.
Comments (9)
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Now the 4 seasons are thankfully over. Has Texas Tech ever been this awful across the board?
Please rich donors, please don't take improved seasons to come as the current Admin turning things around. Hold the Hance et al accountable for taking their jobs when things are good and making them the worst they have ever been.
Funding success, inevitable Walmart like growth in Texas, more construction ... any corporate hack could do that without messing up our sports. Holsbthe Hancellor accountable for the embarrassing past 3 years! Clean house and try to.reclaim the path Tech was on to be its own brand of success in sports, and academically try to find quality instead of numbers and headlines.
lab explosion
Get ready for another lab explosion to deflect interest away from the dumpster fire over at Rip/Law.
Blame
Let's put the blame for this mess where it really belongs. Rick Perry is the one that did this to Tech and ruined our athletic department by loading the BOR and the administration building with Hance and his crew of political has beens and the board of big dollar Perry supporters who paid for their jobs with big contributions. We need to depoliticize this university or continue to enjoy being the laughing stock of Texas.
Feaco be Righto
In the beginning there was Rick Perry. Perry begat Alan White and Jim Sowell and Larry Anders and Jerry Turner and John Scovell. All were introduced by Hance. Because Hance has received credit for every cent these egotistical political and financial opportunists have used to purchase favor with Perry.
Hance is never seen in public for less than $500 a plate. (Schmoozing in suites doesn't count.)
Funny thing, it is a violation of law in Texas for an elected official to accept financial donations from any person expecting ANYTHING in return. Now then, I wonder which one of our law enforcement officials is going to pursue this?
You guessed it.
We are toast. And it ain't milk toast.
The real tragedy
Is that this site references the conference tourney as "post-season" when only 1 team (TTU) doesn't make it. All this junk about "controlling it's own destiny" as if the conf tourney is an ACCOMPLISHMENT. Conf tourney in baseball means cellar avoidance - which Spencer and BCG couldn't do, and Tubs and WBB barely did. Easily the worst combined conf record of any D1 program in the major sports. Ugh.
Yep
According to friends down state, there are actually "red raider jokes" now. Much like "aggie jokes". Only difference is aggie jokes don't have anything to do with actually being losers. It's embarrassing, but it's unfortunately the hand we've been dealt. At least one part was completely avoidable. The arrogance of one man and his desire to cater to one of the worst examples of a human being in Texas, led us to this. It's was also a horrible decision from a financial standpoint. "Strive for honor, evermore", it seems, doesn't have the same meaning it once did.
Kent Hance: Biggest loser in Texas Tech history
Kent Hance is responsible for all this bottom feeding and that loser RaiderPower.com which is his personal mouthpiece. Bet he owns that minor league web site.
Fire every coach but Billy Clyde. Let's get this pathetic athletic department turned around.
Do it Kirby
It took 10 years of no championships to fire our bell cow coach. Allowing 8-4 seasons to be glorified has ruined our athletic department. It will take years to recover but if coaches can't win a championship within 5 years, they should be out the door.
I agree this should be blamed
I agree this should be blamed on the players and coaches. You read from a senior that they came out and played with pride. Shouldn't you have come out like that all year? This outcome really doesn't surprise me though, Spencer has played daddy ball and the good ole boy coaching system since he was given the head job. He sat players on the bench so that an ex head coaches kid could play, and go un-drafted at the end of his career btw. Then he hires all of his buddies to come help him coach, and they make a horrible hire within the Lubbock ISD baseball community. In doing this he expects to win? Kirby, this should be your priority to let this entire coaching staff go. If I see one of these individuals stick around next season I will not be a happy Raider.