After finishing eighth in the Big 12 Conference a year ago and making the postseason tournament only by virtue of a tiebreaker, there weren’t many areas Kansas State head coach Brad Hill didn’t want to see improvement in going into 2013. For the most part, he’s gotten what he wanted. The Wildcats (19-10, 3-3 in Big 12) possess the conference’s top hitting offense with an average of. 324, and Kansas State’s team ERA is almost 1.5 runs better than it was a year ago.

There seems to be a prevailing feeling in Lubbock sometimes that as long as Texas Tech beats Texas — or Texas A&M when the Aggies were around — in anything, then the rest of the season doesn’t really matter. Now, however, we know that’s not true. Because the Texas Tech baseball team beat Texas two of three in Austin two weeks ago, but as soon as the Red Raiders dropped series to West Virginia and TCU in back-to-back weeks, the gnashing of teeth began again.

Over the last few weeks, Texas Tech players and coaches have insisted the offensive struggles are a faze and not indicative of their capabilities. That faze, however, has now cost the Red Raiders a Big 12 Conference home series and every ounce of advantage gained from winning the series at Texas two weeks ago. TCU pounded Tech pitchers for 13 hits, looking nothing like a team also struggling to hit the ball, and the Horned Frogs secured the series victory over the Red Raiders, 7-3, on Saturday at Rip Griffin Park.