Texas Tech beat Florida 3-2 Tuesday afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. (Photo by Michelle Bishop)
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech baseball head coach Tim Tadlock announced the 2017 schedule on Friday, which features 27 games at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park and 29 away from Lubbock.
The 56-game slate includes 18 contests against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams, including four NCAA Regional hosts, three national seeds, three College World Series teams and the NCAA runner-up. The Red Raiders will host all three CWS teams on this year’s schedule in Lubbock, beginning with Arizona (March 7), followed by Big 12 opponents Oklahoma State (April 21-23) and TCU (April 28-30).
Texas Tech, coming off their second College World Series berth in three years and a Big 12 championship, will begin the 2017 campaign in Starkville, Mississippi, for a pair of games against both Western Illinois (Feb. 17-18) and Mississippi State (Feb. 17 & 19).
Opening day at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park is set for Tuesday, Feb. 21, against New Mexico State at 2 p.m. It will kick off a six-game home stand for the Red Raiders, as they’ll welcome in Cal for a four-game weekend series on Feb. 24-26. Tech will wrap up the set against Lubbock Regional foe New Mexico on Feb. 28.
The Red Raiders will then hit the road to take part in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, for the second-straight season. The three-day, six-team, nine-game tournament will pit Texas Tech against Texas A&M on March 3, Ole Miss on March 4 and LSU on March 5. All three of Tech’s opponents in Houston hosted NCAA Regionals in 2016.
Tech returns home to square off with 2016 NCAA College World Series runner-up Arizona in a midweek tilt on March 7. The Red Raiders will then host UTSA on March 10-12 before facing off with UT-Arlington on March 14 at Globe Life Park, home of the Texas Rangers, for the second consecutive year.
The start of the Big 12 title defense will begin on March 17, when the Red Raiders open conference play on the road at Texas on March 17-19.
Before facing their next conference opponent, Tech will host UNLV in a pair of midweek games on March 21-22, then will round out the week on the road at Wichita State on March 24-26. The Red Raiders will play another midweek double with Texas Southern on March 28-29 in Lubbock.
Tech returns to Big 12 action as March rolls into April, facing Oklahoma in Norman March 31-April 2. The Red Raiders will then take on New Mexico State in the first of two road contests, the first in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on April 4, with the second being played two weeks later in Midland at Security Bank Ballpark on April 18, the home of the Midland Rockhounds (AA – Oakland A’s).
The next four games will be played in Lubbock, as the Red Raiders host Baylor on April 7-9, followed by the second matchup with New Mexico on April 11.
After a series with Kansas State in the middle of April (13-15), Tech will hit a stretch of 10-straight games vs. 2016 NCAA Tournament teams. The Red Raiders begin the portion of the schedule with a home series against Oklahoma State on April 21-23, then will take a midweek trip to Albuquerque to face New Mexico on April 25-26. Tech will repeat with another home weekend against TCU (April 28-30), followed by a Tuesday–Wednesday pair at Ohio State (May 2-3).
Later in the week, the Red Raiders will travel to Morgantown to face West Virginia on May 5-7, before finishing up the regular season in Lubbock against Kansas on May 18-20.
The top eight teams in the conference standings will advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on May 24-28. The five-day tournament is held at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
