FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech head baseball coach Dan Spencer announced the Red Raiders 56-game schedule for the 2011 season Tuesday afternoon. Texas Tech’s schedule is highlighted by 22 games against seven opponents that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season and with 33 games at Dan Law Field in Lubbock.
The Red Raiders will also host three weekend tournaments before Big 12 Conference competition starts March 18 at Baylor.
“We feel like we have a great schedule for the upcoming season,” Spencer said. “There are a lot of good teams coming to Lubbock and we are excited about hosting three tournaments early in the season.”
The Red Raiders open the season playing their first 18 games at Dan Law Field. Tech will host the Red Raider Classic (Feb. 18-20) to begin the season and take on Western Michigan on Opening Day, Friday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.
Texas Tech will also host the annual Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic (Feb. 24-27) and the Texas Tech Invitational (March 11-15).
Northwestern, Utah Valley, BYU, Northern Illinois, Iowa and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will join Western Michigan as teams that will compete in Tech’s early season tournaments.
Also on the Red Raiders’ non-conference slate are UNLV (March 1-2) and TCU (March 4-6), who both travel to Lubbock during the third week of the season. TCU is coming off its first trip to the College World Series.
Texas Tech will finish play in the Texas Tech Invitational against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 15, before opening Big 12 Conference action that weekend at Baylor (March 18-20).
Overall, Tech will host four Big 12 Conference series and play on the road during five league weekends.
Conference opponents the Red Raiders will host include Nebraska (March 25-27), Texas A&M (April 8-10), Kansas (April 29-May 1) and Oklahoma State (May 20-22), who Tech will play on the final weekend of the regular season.
The Red Raiders will play Big 12 road series at Baylor, Oklahoma (April 1-3), Texas (April 15-17), Kansas State (April 21-23) and Missouri (May 13-15).
Once conference play begins, Texas Tech will play 11 midweek games, which includes six contests on the road, three games at home and two on a neutral field.
Texas Tech will head to the Metroplex to take on Dallas Baptist (March 22) for its final March midweek game before meeting up with UTSA for a doubleheader in San Angelo, Texas, on April 5, at 3 p.m. at Foster Field.
Tech begins its longest road trip of the season with a two-game midweek series at New Mexico (April 12-13) before a conference series follows at Texas. Following a three-game series with the Longhorns, Texas Tech will play at Texas State (April 18) for its only Monday game of the season before wrapping up its road trip in Manhattan against the Wildcats for a Thursday-Saturday series on Easter Weekend.
The Lobos return a midweek series traveling to Lubbock for a two-game series, April 26-27.
Tech’s first midweek game in May will be at home against Dallas Baptist (May 3) before traveling to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a two-game series at Michigan (May 10-11), who last season traveled to Lubbock for the Red Raider Classic.
The Big 12 Conference Tournament is back at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, scheduled for May 25-29. Bricktown Ballpark is home to the Oklahoma City Redhawks, the new Triple-A affiliate for the Houston Astros.
