BY GEORGE WATSON l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The line between last place and one of the eight seeds in the Big 12 Tournament the past few years has been extremely narrow. For the past two years, Texas Tech has been on the wrong side of that line.

But after Sunday’s 10-3 win over Nebraska to close out a conference-opening series victory, the line may be moving more in the Red Raiders’ favor.

Jeremy Mayo homered twice, Tech (8-10, 2-1 in Big 12) scored all of its runs with two outs in an inning and got a solid combined mound effort from AJ Ramos and Chad Bettis to win its first Big 12 series since Missouri of last year, and just its fourth series win the past three seasons.

“I think we came into today knowing we not only wanted to get a win but we needed to get a win just to get some momentum on the season and play like we’re capable of,” said first baseman Chris Richburg, who was part of Tech’s 14-hit parade with a 4-for-5 day.

“I think mentally we’ve been the same most of the year, but we came in knowing if we wanted to win the series we had to win today and we were pumped up about that. We all knew we were going to show up today, and now we can say we did.”

Nobody showed up more than a trio of Lubbock products in Ramos (Estacado), Bettis (Monterey) and Mayo (Monterey).

Texas Tech's Willie Rueda tries to make a diving tag at second to get out Nebraska's Adam Bailey as he slides into second Sunday afternoon at Dan Law Field. Tech beat Nebraska 10-3 to finish the three-game series. (John A. Bowersmith/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Ramos kept Tech in the game despite trailing for most of his 42/3 innings, and he gave the Red Raiders a chance to get things going offensively. He allowed his first run of the season with a first-inning RBI single by Tyler Farst, and Nebraska would tack on single runs in the third and fifth innings.

But it was the fourth where the game turned, both on the mound and at the plate for the Red Raiders.

Nebraska (11-5-1, 1-2) put two runners on with no outs, both stranded in scoring position when shortstop Joey Kenworthy made a great play charging a ball that ticked off Ramos’ glove up the middle. That kept the score at 2-0 Nebraska, but it didn’t last long.

Logan Leslie’s pinch-hit, two-out double off the wall in right field plated Scott LeJeune with Tech’s first run of the game in the bottom of the inning, and the flood gates opened. Mayo followed with a two-run home run to left, and four batters later Richburg ripped a bases-loaded single to right-center for two more runs and a 5-2 Tech lead.

“You’ve got to be able to put teams away and be able to finish hitters and finish innings,” Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. “We didn’t do that because Tech took advantage of things. They played aggressive baseball and got us back on our heels. We didn’t execute, we didn’t get things done in the fourth and that changed things in terms of momentum.”

With the lead in hand, head coach Dan Spencer wasted no time turning things over to Bettis when Ramos ran into trouble in the fifth. Bettis stranded the tying run in scoring position with a grounder to first, then worked four scoreless innings to pick up the win, walking two and striking our four.

“I like coming in and getting the ball because the game is in my hands,” Bettis (2-0) said. “I knew I had to get the out and get us back in the dugout and we could get some runs up on the board.”

Tech certainly did that. Mayo ripped another two-run bomb in the fifth, Justin Berry added an RBI single as part of a two-run sixth and LeJeune plated Tech’s final run with a single in the seventh – all with two outs.

Nebraska starter Michael Mariot (1-1) allowed five earned runs on six hits and two walks in 32/3 innings, and the next two relievers surrendered five runs on six hits and four walks over three innings

“I think (Leslie’s double) rattled the guy on the mound,” Mayo said. “He threw me a couple of
good pitches and then just put one in the zone. We were really confident coming into today. We played well yesterday in the first game and came out ready to play today.”

And by doing so, the Red Raiders go into next weekend’s series at No. 5 Baylor, which dropped its first two Big 12 games to Texas A&M, with a bit of momentum.

“The kids competed, and it’s nice because they’ve competed before and lost,” Spencer said. “It’s nice to compete and get that kind of production and win and we can build on it from here. Until you get something done a time or two, you’re just going on faith and we all need to have a little faith. But once you get it done it should give you confidence you can finish a game and finish a weekend.”

To comment on this story:
george.watson@lubbockonline.com l 766-2166
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TEXAS TECH 10, NEBRASKA 3
Nebraska Texas Tech
Player ab r h rbi Player ab r h rbi
Bubak ss 5 0 1 0 Rueda 2b 5 2 1 0
Belfonte cf/rf 5 1 1 0 Reed lf 3 2 0 0
Bailey rf 4 2 2 1 Kenworthy ss 3 0 1 0
Farst 1b 4 0 2 2 Richburg 1b 5 1 4 2
Sullivan lf 5 0 2 0 LeJeune dh 4 1 1 1
Tezak dh 2 0 0 0 Berry 3b 4 0 1 1
Cooper cf 1 0 1 0 Ashby rf 4 0 2 0
Hauptman p 0 0 0 0 Macnoll cf 1 0 0 0
Collins ph 1 0 0 0 Leslie ph 1 0 1 1
Asche 3b 3 0 1 0 Totten pr/cf 1 2 1 1
Kiser 2b 0 0 0 0 Brown cf 0 0 0 0
Thompson ph 1 0 0 0 Mayo c 4 2 2 4
Kline ss 1 0 0 0
Burleson c 3 0 0 0
Neer ph/c 1 0 0 0
Totals 36 3 10 3Totals 35 10 14 10
Nebraska 101 010 000 — 3 10 2
Texas Tech 000 522 100 — 10 14 0
E—Sullivan (1), Cooper (1). DP—Nebraska 1, Texas Tech 1. LOB—Nebraska 12, Texas Tech 12. 2B—Bubak (6), Sullivan (3), Asche (3), Leslie (1). HR—Bailey (8), Mayo 2(3). SH—Kenworthy (2), Berry (2). SB—Bailey (1), Richburg (2), Ashby (5).
Pitching summaries
Nebraska
Pitcher ip h r er bb so
Mariot (L, 1-1) 32/3 6 5 5 2 0
Yost 1 2 2 2 1 1
Bailey 2 4 3 3 3 1
Hauptman 11/3 2 0 0 0 0
Texas Tech
Pitcher ip h r er bb so
Ramos 42/3 7 3 3 2 6
Bettis (W, 2-0) 41/3 3 0 0 2 4
WP—Ramos (3). HBP—by Ramos (Bailey), by Ramos (Kiser), by Mariot (Reed), by Mariot (Kenworthy), by Bailey (Rueda). U—Alexander, Yeast, McGuire. T—2:56. A—2,365. Records: Nebraska 11-5-1, 1-2 in Big 12; Texas Tech 8-10, 2-1.