
Friday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech baseball team used a 9-run fifth inning to overpower South Florida in a 16-6 win.
It’s never a surprise when the Texas Tech baseball team has an offensive explosion at Rip Griffin Park. But the catalyst for the explosion that knocked out South Florida in Friday night’s 16-6 win was a rather unexpected player.
Hitting two homers in Tech’s 9-run fifth inning, freshman Drew Woodcox certainly opened some eyes. Coming into the game, he was hitting just .188 on the year and had not managed to power a ball out of the park. But on Friday night, the Houston native was 2-3 with four RBI.
Also in that inning, the home team would get RBIs from Jace Jung, Dru Baker, and Kurt Wilson as 14 Red Raiders would go to the plate. However, Woodcox wasn’t the only Red Raider to surprise at the plate in the series opener. Nor was he the only one to use the long ball to make a statement. Making his season debut after recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in October, outfielder Dillon Carter stepped to the plate in the bottom of the second and deposited the first pitch he saw over the right-center wall for a two-run shot. The freshman saw action in 18 games last year hitting .280 with 13 RBI but no homers. Now, his return could bolster a Red Raider lineup that was already among the best in the nation. Friday, 13 different Red Raiders got an at-bat with nine of them collecting base hits. That included multi-hit games from Cal Conley, Dru Baker, Kurt Wilson, and Woodcox.