BY GEORGE WATSON | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech may have hit a growth spurt on Sunday.

Coming off not only a disappointing loss to No. 14 Texas A&M but the loss of senior second baseman Willie Rueda to his hamstring injury on Saturday, the young Red Raiders faced a good bit of adversity trying to preserve the home field and win a Big 12 Conference series from the Aggies at Dan Law Field.

Tech showed early on, though, that it wasn’t going to let Saturday night’s losses leak into Sunday. Senior Miles Morgan (2-4) threw six quality innings in his best outing in more than a month, and the Red Raider offense jumped on A&M pitching early en route to a 10-6 victory and a 2-1 series win.

Photos - Tech protects home field against Aggies.

“You can’t say enough about the way they showed up,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “We’re getting more comfortable and they’re believing they can win. They’re playing for the name on their chest and not worrying about the other name in the dugout.”

With the win, Tech finishes its first four weekends of Big 12 play — three of those against ranked opponents — with a 6-6 conference mark (14-19 overall), good for a tie for fifth with Texas but just one game out of second and 11/2 games behind first-place Oklahoma, who the Red Raiders face in Norman beginning on Friday.

Morgan, who was moved from Friday starter to Sunday, was sharp from the opening pitch. He gave up single runs in the third and fourth innings, but otherwise kept the Aggies (20-11, 7-5 in Big 12) off balance.

It was the first time he pitched more than six innings since losing a 2-1 decision to San Francisco on March 4 as he scattered five hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.

Texas Tech's Justin Berry makes it to third on a dribbling grounder he hit down the third-base line Sunday in the final game of a three-game series against Texas A&M. Tech beat A&M 10-6 Sunday to win the series 2 games to 1. (John A. Bowersmith/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

“We needed to come out and win, and that’s the great thing about Sunday is it’s a lot of fun but it’s also a lot of pressure,” Morgan said. “I was very happy today they gave me a shot to come out and pitch and I just wanted to get after them.”

Spencer talked in his postgame speech to the team Saturday about other players stepping up in Rueda’s absence, and the Red Raiders (14-19, 6-6) took it to heart, pounding Aggie pitching for seven runs in the first two innings, most of it coming from freshmen and sophomores.

Freshman designated hitter Scott LeJeune went 3 for 4 with a two-run home run in the first and an RBI double in the second. Freshman third baseman Justin Berry had a triple and a double and scored a run, and sophomore catcher Jeremy Mayo went 3 for 4 with his seventh home run of the year and an RBI double in the eighth.

“It was good for us to go out and compete and stay concentrated the whole time,” said LeJeune, who matched his career high with three RBIs. “Coach Spencer talked to us about them coming out and trying to take it from us an we had to go out there and keep it from them. We all just had to step up and do what we can do.”

The first inning surge came off A&M starter Barret Loux (1-1), who was replaced to start the second by reliever Clayton Ehlert, who surrendered five runs in the inning. Ross Hales started the third and held Tech without a run for the next three innings.

“Without question we were one move too late on the mound,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “Texas Tech took advantage of our first two guys and made us pay, and we were down 7-0 before we knew what hit us, and I think that affected our approach offensively.”

The big hurdle for Morgan was the third. In his past two innings, he’d allowed a six-run third inning at Baylor and a five-run third at Texas. Sunday’s third frame didn’t start out well as Adam Smith led off with a leadoff solo home run, but Morgan came back to retire the side in order and allowed just one more run over his final three innings.

“To win at home and win a conference series at home, those are big things for us,” Spencer said.

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