Michigan
0-1
Texas Tech
1-0
No. 14 Texas Tech Rallies Past Michigan in Ninth in Season Opener
2/18/2022 11:59:00 PM | Baseball
» Texas Tech scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to top Michigan.
» Clark Elliott led off the season with a solo home run to right field as part of a three-hit night.
» Jack Van Remortel had a pair of hits.
» Willie Weiss struck out four batters in relief.
Site: Arlington, Texas (Globe Life Field)
Score: #14 Texas Tech 7, Michigan 6
Records: U-M (0-1), TTU (1-0)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 19 -- vs. Kansas State (Arlington, Texas) 11 a.m. CST
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The No. 14-ranked Texas Tech Raiders rallied in the ninth inning to defeat the University of Michigan baseball team 7-6 on Friday night (Feb. 18) at Globe Life Field to open the State Farm College Baseball Showdown and its 2022 season.
Michigan led the game from the start, but its hurlers ran into control problems and allowed Texas Tech back into the game. Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, a sacrifice fly tied things before Owen Washburn doubled home the winning run with two outs.
Clark Elliott, the reigning Cape Cod Baseball League batting champion, led off the season loudly as he hammered a 0-1 fastball over the right-field wall for an early lead.
Elliott was in the mix again in the second inning as Michigan benefited from Texas Tech's electric but erratic starter Andrew Morris, who walked a batter and hit another to start. Riley Bertram drove home a run with an RBI grounder. Elliott stepped in and laced the first pitch he saw for an RBI double, and Michigan scored another run on a wild pitch to take a 4-0 lead.
Texas Tech (1-0) finally broke through against U-M starter Cameron Weston in the third inning, as Kurt Wilson grounded a two-out single through the left side to score Owen Washburn (single). Weston, who pitched the potent Red Raiders lineup carefully, quickly rebounded with a three-pitch strikeout, his fifth of the game, to end the inning.
In the fourth, Michigan loaded the bases with two outs and chased Morris from the game. Tech went to lefty Derek Bridges for a matchup against Matt Frey, and Bridges won the battle, inducing a grounder to end the threat.
Jack Van Remortel got that run back for U-M in the 5th with two outs when he laced an RBI single off the third base bag to score Joe Stewart (single) to make it 5-1. Tech answered in the bottom of the frame thanks to a dropped fly ball with two outs that was ruled a triple to make it a 5-3 game.  Â
Michigan answered as Elliott led off the sixth with a double to left and scored on a sacrifice fly from Frey to make it 6-3.
The game got tense in the bottom of the frame as Tech scored twice without a hit as three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch made it a one-run game at 6-5. It was right-hander Willie Weiss who was called on to steady the game, and the senior righty did just that, getting Michigan into the ninth inning with 2.1 innings of two-hit relief during which he struck out four batters, but wound up taking the tough-luck loss.
Michigan has a quick turnaround Saturday (Feb. 19) as the Wolverines are the designated home team in a matchup with Kansas State at 11 a.m. CST.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chase Hampton (1-0)
L: Weiss, Willie (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Elliott, Clark 1 ; Obertop, Jimmy 1 ; Van Remortel, Jack 1
HR: Elliott, Clark 1
RBI: Elliott, Clark 2 ; Frey, Matt 1 ; Van Remortel, Jack 1 ; Bertram, Riley 1
SF: Frey, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Elliott, Clark 2 ; Stewart, Joe 2 ; Fedje-Johnson, Alex 1 ; Bertram, Riley 1
HBP: Fedje-Johnson, Alex 1
Batting:
3B: Kurt Wilson 1
RBI: Dalton Porter 1 ; Owen Washburn 1 ; Jace Jung 1 ; Kurt Wilson 3
SF: Dalton Porter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cooper Swanson 1 ; Owen Washburn 3 ; Easton Murrell 1 ; Cole Stilwell 1 ; Hudson White 1
SB: Easton Murrell 1 ; Hudson White 1
HBP: Jace Jung 1 ; Easton Murrell 1 ; Cole Stilwell 1 ; Zach Vooletich 1
