By George Watson | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The line has been drawn, and the roster may be shrinking for the Texas Tech baseball team.

Wednesday’s 11-2 rout at the hands of Dallas Baptist at Dan Law Field had many of the same characteristics that plagued the Red Raiders in their eight-game road trip through California. Struggling starting pitching, errors, inconsistent offense and another late-game bullpen meltdown all contributed to the eighth loss in the last nine games for Tech (6-9) and provided little to feel good about heading into Big 12 Conference play against Nebraska on Friday.

The list of just who will play or pitch in that league series opener has likely shrunk. “I’m hoping we’ve hit rock bottom,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “We’re going to make some adjustments. I’m not positive exactly what we’ll do but we’re going to play our most competitive people even if we have to play them out of position, and if we have to pitch eight guys we’re going to pitch eight guys and do what we can do. This is not what we stand for at Texas Tech and we’re going to do something about it.”

The Patriots (10-3) scored eight runs through the first eight innings but needed just six hits to do so. They were helped along by 10 walks from Red Raider pitchers, five from starter Nate Karns (0-2), who surrendered four runs in the first two innings.

But he was also hindered in the first by Tech fielding woes, one on a wild throw to first by shortstop Joey Kenworthy and the second on a potential inning-ending double-play ball that went under the glove of third baseman Justin Berry, resulting in a two-run single.

After the Red Raiders had pulled to within 4-2 in the seventh, the bullpen had what has become an all-too-familiar implosion, allowing four runs on two hits and five walks in the eighth and another three runs on five hits in the ninth.

“We reached (frustrating) a long time ago. We’re beyond that,” Spencer said. “We have to go now, without putting somebody at risk as far as their arm, and do what we have to do. There will be a narrower bunch of guys out there.”

The offense wasn’t much help. DBU starter Victor Black (2-0), an Amarillo native, held the Red Raiders scoreless through the first five innings and left after six having given up just one run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

Tech’s only runs came on an RBI single by Scott LeJeune in the sixth and a sacrifice fly by Michael Head in the seventh. Other than that, the Red Raiders stranded six baserunners in scoring position, four of whom got there with less than two outs, struck out 10 times in 34 at bats and walked just three times.

“We just have to pick our heads up and keep working,” LeJeune said. “We can either put our heads down or do something about it and that’s what we’re going to do. I just want us to compete, that’s all we need to do. If we compete and do our job we should be fine at the end of the game.”

Dallas Baptist’s offense, meanwhile, didn’t let many opportunities get by.

The Patriots scored their first two runs on a two-run single by Ryan Thompson after Karns had loaded the bases on an error and two walks in the first. A two-run double by Ryan Enos with no outs in the second after a leadoff walk, wild pitch and bunt single pushed the lead to 4-0.

From there, though, Karns was solid, retiring 12 of the final 14 batters he faced, and it allowed the Red Raiders to creep back into the game late.

But the trend of Tech’s bullpen to allow big innings late ended any hopes of a rally, and may have ended the trust coaches have in certain players. Lorenzo Douglas allowed three runs on two hits and three walks and 2/3 of an inning, and Cory Large surrendered three runs on four hits while getting just one out.

“They’re not young guys anymore. These guys have 50 at bats in 15 games. It’s time to turn the page,” Spencer said. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better if we don’t figure it out. We have plenty of talent. We have enough talent to compete with anybody and we’ve proven that. But competing and winning and finishing the deal are totally different things and we haven’t proven that yet.”

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DALLAS BAPTIST 11, TEXAS TECH 2

Dallas Baptist Texas Tech

Player ab r h rbi Player ab r h rbi

Enos cf 5 0 2 4 Reed lf 1 1 0 1

Anderson ph 1 0 0 0 Ashby rf 4 0 0 0

Knight 2b 5 1 0 0 Kenworthy ss 4 0 1 0

Goins ss 2 2 0 0 Richburg 1b 3 0 1 0

Head 1b 4 1 1 0 LeJeune dh 4 0 1 1

Thompson rf 3 2 2 2 Berry 3b 4 0 0 0

Krizan dh 5 1 2 3 Whitehead c 2 0 0 0

Behmanesh 3b 3 0 0 0 Rueda ph 1 0 0 0

Mrachek ph 2 1 1 0 Brown cf 0 0 0 0

Bantz c 3 2 1 1 Leslie ph 1 0 0 0

Kelly lf 1 1 1 1 Macnoll cf 1 0 0 0

Mayo ph/c 2 1 2 0

Totten 2b 4 0 1 0

Totals 34 11 10 11 Totals 31 2 6 2

Dallas Baptist 220 000 043 – 11 10 1

Texas Tech 000 001 100 – 2 6 1

E-Behmanesh (6), Kenworthy (4). DP-Dallas Baptist 2, Texas Tech 2. LOB-Dallas Baptist 9, Texas Tech 7. 2B-Enos (4), Head (1), Krizan (5), Bantz (3), Mayo (3). SF-Reed (1). SB-Macnoll (1), Totten (1). CS-Enos (3), Thompson (1).

Pitching summaries

Dallas Baptist

Pitcher ip h r er bb so

Black (W, 2-0) 6 3 1 1 3 6

Palmer 1 2 1 1 0 2

LaCourse 2 1 0 0 0 2

Texas Tech

Pitcher ip h r er bb so

Karns (L, 0-2) 51/3 3 4 3 5 2

Farrar 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Quick 1 0 1 1 1 0

Douglas 2/3 2 3 3 3 0

Large 1/3 4 3 3 1 1

Foster 1 1 0 0 1 1

WP-Karns (3), Douglas (2), Large (2). HBP-by Karns (Thompson), by Black (Reed), by Quick (Kelly). BK-Karns (1). U-Alexander, Sooter, Morris. T-3:03. A-1,839. Records: Dallas Baptist 10-3, Texas Tech 6-9.