Move over, Cody Fuller. Make a place in Texas Tech baseball lore for Scott LeJeune.

LeJeune’s three-run homer in Stillwater, Okla., on Sunday sent the Tech dugout and a couple of radio announcers into a frenzy.

It gave Tech a 5-3 lead and a 2-1 series victory against Oklahoma State just as Cody Fuller’s grand slam into the same netting in 2004 highlighted a nine-run ninth inning that gave Tech a 2-1 series win over the Cowboys.

As big a shot as it was for the game and the series, it might be even bigger for the season.

Fuller’s blast in 2004 came late in the season and ultimately meant the difference in finishing third in the Big 12 or fourth, two games ahead of the Cowboys. It’s too early to tell what kind of effect LeJeune’s shot will have, but for now it puts Tech comfortably in the hunt for a regional berth.

After Sunday’s smoke cleared, the Red Raiders (17-18, 6-6 in Big 12) were solidly in fourth place, having played each of the three teams ahead of them in the Big 12 standings. Texas is running away with the league right now. Kansas State (6-3) is in second, but Tech beat the Wildcats last weekend, and KSU has yet to play Texas, Texas A&M, or Oklahoma. Texas A&M (6-5-1) is in third but just by percentage points over the Red Raiders thanks to the tie against Kansas nine days ago. Baylor, thanks to its series win over A&M, is also in the mix at 5-5.

After that, a divide has started to form. Kansas (3-5-1) can still make hay but has an uphill climb. Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Missouri occupy the final three spots, all tied with a .333 winning percentage.

The way the schedule set up for the Red Raiders, it did them no favors with the Aggies, Longhorns and Wildcats right off the bat. But after making it through that stretch and coming out of the first four series even, the schedule flips in Tech’s favor.

Tech has a solid RPI of 48, one of seven teams from the Big 12 in the top 50. If the Red Raiders can survive the next two weeks against the Sooners and at Kansas, things set up nicely for a solid stretch run.

Tech’s final three series are against Missouri, Baylor and Nebraska. The Red Raiders have the Tigers and Bears at home, two teams against which Tech has tremendous success at Dan Law Field. Since the start of the Big 12 in 1997, Tech has hosted Baylor and Missouri six times each, holding a 14-4 home record against Baylor and a 12-6 mark against Missouri. Tech has not lost a series to Baylor, which it hosts May 14-16, since 1998, and has won three of the last four home series against the Tigers, which come to town April 30-May 2.

Nebraska is in the same boat it was last year when it finished last, making that a winnable series the weekend before the Big 12 Championships in Oklahoma City. So the potential is there for Tech to get on a good run the final three weeks of the regular season.

More importantly, what the series against Oklahoma State showed was a measure of resiliency that not many had seen this year. Tech went into the series with very little momentum after a midweek split with UNLV and the announcement that Friday starter John Neely had broken his hand in a non-baseball-related incident. OSU then blew Tech out of the series opener 13-3m, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning.

It did not faze the Red Raiders. Never did head coach Dan Spencer’s words ring more true about how crucial the starting pitching is for this team than on Saturday and Sunday. Starters Bobby Doran and Jay Johnson, relievers Ben Flora and Brett Bruening and closer Chad Bettis combined to hold the Cowboys to seven runs on eight hits over the final 18 innings of the series, and that allowed Tech to win a pair of close games, 5-4 and 5-3.

Like Spencer said after Sunday’s game, they may have stumbled on to something with Johnson, who had struggled all season and entered the start with a 7-plus ERA. It didn’t start well with three walks and a hit batter within the first seven batters, but Johnson settled down to keep Tech within striking distance, ensuring he will probably get the start this Sunday against the Sooners. Now all that needs to happen is for someone – anyone – to step up on Friday, and Tech might just be in position for a big push over the final month of the season.

GEORGE WATSON IS A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION AND HAS BEEN COVERING TEXAS TECH BASEBALL FOR 13 SEASONS. HE CAN BE REACHED AT GEORGE.WATSON@LUBBOCKONLINE.COM OR AT (806) 766-2166.