BY GEORGE WATSON l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech’s chances at its first Big 12 Conference sweep in almost two years didn’t make it out of the first inning.

No. 24 Kansas jumped all over Tech starting pitcher Miles Morgan, who struggled mightily to find the strike zone. The result was a seven-run first inning for the Jayhawks, and that kickstarted a 15-6 victory over the Red Raiders to prevent a Tech sweep of the series Sunday at Dan Law Field.

“We had a little prosperity, and we’d won two in a row and three conference games in a row going into this game,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “Sometimes you have to learn to play like you’re supposed to win. That’s the next step.

“Momentum is about the starting guy on the mound and how good is he, how good is he in the first inning. That is a momentum builder or momentum deflator, and that’s what happened to us today.”

The loss keeps Tech in seventh place in the Big 12 standings but just two games behind second-place Texas A&M and three behind first-place Texas with three conference series remaining, two against teams (Missouri, Oklahoma State) which trail the Red Raiders.

“Any loss is tough, but overall the weekend was a success for us,” shortstop Joey Kenworthy said. “Even though we lost today the weekend still overall put us in a good spot.”

Tech (18-24, 9-9) entered the game with a shot to sweep a series for the first time since taking the first two from the Jayhawks during the 2006 season. Like then, Kansas (25-14, 8-7) avoided the sweep, with KU starter Lee Ridenhour doing what his two weekend predecessors couldn’t.

Ridenhour held the Red Raiders to a run on eight hits over six innings, walking three and striking out one. He also got the benefit of flawless defense that included a pair of line-drive double plays, providing a big lift for a Kansas team that won on the road in the Big 12 for the first time this season.

“He threw us a lot of off-speed first pitches,” Kenworthy said. “The past two days they threw a lot of fastballs trying to get ahead and that didn’t work for them. He came out and mixed up well.”

Morgan, meanwhile, did not, showing the rust from not having started since the series finale against Texas A&M on April 5. Within the first seven batters of the game, and without recording an out, Morgan surrendered three walks, two hits and hit a batter, and an error by left fielder Michael Reed allowed the Jayhawks open up a 4-0 lead.

Lorenzo Douglas came in and settled things down, but not before giving up a two-run double and an RBI fielder’s choice that gave the Jayhawks a 7-0 lead after just a half inning.

“This was a make or break game for us and we would have put our whole season on the line if we hadn’t found a way to win (Sunday)” Kansas coach Ritch Price said. “We were able to lay off some pitches down in the zone and (Morgan) struggled with his command and we were able to take advantage of it.”

The Jayhawks, though, didn’t stop there. Run-scoring singles by David Nardowski and Brian Heere pushed the lead to 9-0 in the third, and Tony Thompson crushed his team-leading 11th home run of the season to lead off the fourth and put the 10-run rule into effect for the first time.

Tech temporarily took the run-rule out of play in the bottom of the fifth on Chris Richburg’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right. But Thompson led off the sixth with a home run, and Nardowski added a two-run double off the wall in left. Heere capped the scoring with an RBI single past a diving Rueda and into right-center to make it a 14-1 game, and an error scored another run in the top of the seventh, cutting Tech’s day down to three outs.

But the Red Raiders avoided the shutout with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the seventh. Pinch-hitter Kevin Whitehead capped the inning with a two-run single that dropped the deficit under double digits.

“That’s just kind of a pride thing,” first baseman Chris Richburg said. “You never want to get run-ruled but you sure don’t want to have it happen at home, and on top of that after we’d won the first two games of the series.

“That’s not the way you want to come out on a Sunday. We tried to finish strong and got in trouble early.”

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