The Texas Tech baseball team opened spring practices on Jan. 30 with the field surrounded by mounds of snow, and closed its first week on Saturday in near-freezing temperatures and gray, cloudy skies.

In between, however, the Red Raiders were lucky enough to get some good weather and were able to get on the field and get much of its work in, and second-year head coach Dan Spencer said it was a good week of work with the season opener less than two weeks away.

Sophomore infielder Justin Berry, shown here taking a throw last season, is one of several returning infielders for the Red Raiders in 2010.

“I think we’re going to be very good defensively, we’re pitching well, and we’re just grinding it out right now,” Spencer said after Saturday’s practice. “I think we’ll be ready to play in a week and be ready next week when we play with the alumni, barring any unforeseen injuries to guys we have battling now.

“Today we didn’t swing the bats good at all but we pitched well, and I’ll always take that. I do fee like we’re going to be a good offensive team. Our older guys are competing fine, but your younger guys, when you have 35-degree weather they kind of check their hold card, and they have to understand there are places in the league, Lubbock being one of them, when it’s going to be cold and you have to show up.”

One guy who apparently showed up for the first week is junior transfer Brett Bruening, a right-handed pitcher out of Seward County (Kan.) Community College. With returning junior right-hander Chad Bettis penciled in as the Friday starter and junior right-handed transfer Bobby Doran the leading candidate for Saturday, Bruening might have taken a big step toward securing the Sunday role.

And with junior left-handed transfer Jay Johnson set to go as the closer, the rest of the staff is battling to be a midweek starter or key relief pitcher out of the bullpen, which was a sore spot in 2009.
Despite finishing seventh in the conference at 12-15 in Big 12 play, Tech was just 13-17 in non-conference action, a big reason why it missed out on the playoffs while eighth-place Baylor and ninth-place Oklahoma State made the NCAA playoffs.

The options this spring are not numerous as Tech started the spring with two left-handers and a part-time right-hander on the shelf, all three recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery.

“I feel like once we get our starting pitching in line, on the weekends and in a four-game deal we’ll be able to get it where we can get 6-61/2 innings out of guys every weekend because they’re those types of guys,” said Spencer, whose goal is to eventually get starters going 7-8 innings per outing. “That will go a long way ward helping us with our depth because we wouldn’t be into our bullpen already. We’ll find a core group of about seven or eight guys we can ride a little bit and be fine there. We’d be in trouble, like anyone else, if we get a starter out of the game in the third inning, but that’s not a good situation for any club.”

Playing with combinations
Part of the first week of practice, as is customary, was spent looking at different infield combinations. Senior Joey Kenworthy at shortstop and junior Jeremy Mayo at catcher are likely set, but the other three spots appear up for grabs.

Newcomers Jamodrick McGruder, a freshman, and Nick Popescu, a junior, had been working at second and third, respectively, but toward the end of the week switched to test their abilities. Both are been battling with veterans Garrett Totten at second and Justin Berry at third, both sophomores.

“That’s what this time is for,” Spencer said. “You try to figure out what everyone can do. If you’ve got a guy like Popsecu who can play second and third, it makes your roster go that much farther. So we’re just trying to mess with a couple of combinations and who can hit where. So far, so good.”

Senior transfer Bonham Hough, an outfielder, also moved in and began working at first base behind junior transfer Stephen Hagen and freshman Alec Mielnicki.

Injury bug
With four players already out with season-ending injuries, the Red Raiders got through the first week in relatively good shape, but do have a couple of concerns.

Senior outfielder Taylor Ashby’s chronic right shoulder has flared up again, and likely will be a season-long battle to keep it in playing condition. Ashby did not go through the infield-outfield practice routine prior to Saturday’s scrimmage but did participate fully in the scrimmage both offensively and defensively.

Sophomore infielder Justin Berry will see a doctor Monday and have X-rays taken on his left hand after he was hit by a pitch during Friday’s scrimmage action. Berry played defensively in Saturday’s scrimmage but did not hit.

Goals already set
Even though they haven’t been there in five years, it didn’t take long for the Red Raiders to set the NCAA postseason as their goal for 2010.

“Ideally we’d like to make the Big 12 tournament again and then make the postseason,” senior outfielder Taylor Ashby said. “If you make the postseason, anything can happen and if you’re on a roll, there’s no telling. That’s what our goal is, get to a 40-win season and get to the postseason and see what we can do.”

Tech has not made the NCAA postseason since 2004, and 2009 was the first time in three seasons the Red Raiders played past the regular season. Rivals.com has predicted the Red Raiders for a ninth-place finish, with only the top eight teams in the conference reaching the Big 12 Championships May 26-30 in Oklahoma City.

“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people in the Big 12 and in the nation,” Bettis said.

Short hops
Tech has 30 players listed on the roster, but one who is not there is infielder Reed Redman, who spent the fall at Baylor. Redman, who is related to the Redman family from Post, will have to sit out the fall per NCAA transfer rules and will not play this season, but will have two years of eligibility left beginning in 2011 … For one of the few times in program history, Tech has scheduled a game against its alumni to be played on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1 p.m. at Dan Law Field.
A list of the alumni returning to Lubbock will be released sometime this week.

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