The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Friday, April 24
Lubbock, Texas
6 p.m.
University of Texas
at
Texas Tech
Softball preview: at Texas Tech [April 24-26, 2015]
04.23.2015 | Softball
Texas takes an eight-game road winning streak to Lubbock to face the Red Raiders
Texas Game Notes at Texas Tech
No. RV Texas (31-12, 6-3 Big 12) at Texas Tech (21-24, 5-7 Big 12) | April 24-26 | Rocky Johnson Field
Schedule:
Fri., April 24 – #RV Texas at Texas Tech – 6 p.m. CT – Lubbock, Texas
Sat., April 25 – #RV Texas at Texas Tech – 2 p.m. CT – Lubbock, Texas
Sun., April 26 – #RV Texas at Texas Tech – 12 p.m. CT – Lubbock, Texas
Live Stats: FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
Television/Live Online Video: The first and third games of the series are expected to be available to watch online with a paid subscription through TexasTech.com via the following links: FRIDAY | SUNDAY
Saturday's 2 p.m. CT game is slated for broadcast on FOX Sports Net (Regional) with Dave Barnett (play-by-play) and Tracy Warren (analyst) on the call.
Radio: None available for this weekend.
Base Knocks:
- Texas and Texas Tech have met on 40 previous occasions with the Longhorns leading the all-time series, 33-7. On the road in Lubbock, UT is 15-2 overall, having won the last three such meetings over April 26-28, 2013. During the most recent series in Austin, Texas took two-of-three contests from the Red Raiders over April 4-6, 2014.
- The Longhorns seem comfortable playing away from the friendly confines of McCombs Field, boasting an 9-1 mark in true away games in 2015. The only true road match-up that UT has dropped this season was an 8-3 decision at North Carolina (March 6). Texas has out-hit the opposition as a team during road contests by a remarkable .368 to .241, and has won EIGHT in a row, tying for the fourth-longest road winning streak in program history. This year's squad has also equaled the 2014 & 2011 teams for the best road record through the first 10 games in program history.
- The Longhorns have always had a tremendous amount of success against programs from the "Lone Star State," as UT holds a 296-69-1 (.809) overall record versus a combined 19 Texas teams and is 9-1 against such squads in 2015. The Burnt Orange & White leads the all-time series over 18 of those 19 programs with the lone blemish being a 20-20 series tie against longtime rival Texas A&M. The Horns faced off against Lamar and Texas Southern during the Texas Invitational, UTSA on March 24, Houston on April 1, Texas State on April 3-4, Texas A&M-CC on April 7 and UT Arlington on April 15.
- It's proven to be a remarkable year for the Longhorns' offense with two outs in an inning as UT has registered 38 percent (90 of its 239 total RBIs) of its total RBI output with two retired in a frame. The trend continued in a recent Texas match-up on April 15 against UT Arlington as the Horns scored all eight of their runs with two outs in an 8-0 (5 inn) rout of the Mavericks.
- If you look at this year's statistics, it's pretty obvious that Texas loves to jump on teams right from the start. UT enters its series at Texas Tech having scored in the first inning in 12 of its last 15 contests. The Longhorns have scored 66 runs during the first inning (26 percent of its total runs), the most of any single frame, and 135 of its total tallies (52 percent) over the opening three innings. UT is 21-2 in games where it scores at least once in the first inning.
- UT hasn't shied away from playing some of the best teams in the nation in 2015 and has had solid success in those contests. Texas now owns a 6-6 mark against ranked squads this year with victories over No. 16 Arizona State, No. 8/7 Georgia, No. 12 UCLA and No. 22 Kansas (three wins). That tough schedule has helped lead to a No. 28 ranking in the most recent release of the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) on April 20, a tool used to select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament Field of 64. UT reached a season-high of No. 20 in the April 6 RPI release. Texas can boast of seven wins over top 34-rated RPI squads, UCLA (seven), Arizona State (16), Georgia (20), Kansas (24-three wins) and Northwestern (34).
- The Longhorns' offense has now hit five total grand slams this season (second most in a single season in Texas history), trailing only the eight hit by the 2013 team for the most in school history.
- Texas is playing a remarkable 30 regular season games on a television network in 2015 with contests over a combination of the Longhorn Network, SEC Network, SEC Network+, Jayhawk TV/ESPN3, FOX Sports Net and ESPN2. The Longhorns enter this weekend's series at Texas Tech with a 20-6 record thus far on the tube this season.
- Since managing the first of her program-record stretch of five straight games with a HR back on March 28 at No. 22 Kansas, junior center fielder Lindsey Stephens has taken en fuego to a different level at the plate. Over the last 13 games, Stephens is batting .432 (19-for-44) with 11 runs scored, three triples, six HR's and 15 RBIs while slugging at a .977 clip. She has homered in six of her last 13 contests, most recently on a first-inning solo shot off No. 5 Oklahoma's Shelby Pendley on April 10. With 13 HR's in 2015, tied for the sixth-most in any season in Longhorns history, Stephens is now just five HR's from tying Taylor Hoagland's school mark of 18 set back during the 2012 campaign.
- Sophomore shortstop Devon Tunning has been prolific this year as Texas' lead-off hitter, reaching a remarkable 61.5 percent of the time when starting an inning (40-of-65 times). Recently, she's become a power threat at the dish as the Montgomery, Texas, native registered a pair of two-HR performances at Texas State and vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tunning is one of only two Longhorns players to have recorded a multi-HR effort this season and now owns a career-high five HR's in 2015.
- Freshman third baseman Randel Leahy made some personal history in an 8-0 (5 inn.) mid-week win over UT-Arlington, blasting her first career grand slam, posting a career-best five RBIs and managing her first career walk-off hit on a solo HR to left in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two HR's in the game, she also joined Devon Tunning as the only Longhorns with a multi-HR performance in 2015. Leahy is currently the top hitter (by batting average) in the UT line-up with runners in scoring position, boasting a .433 mark on 13-for-30 at the plate.
