LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech baseball head coach Tim Tadlock announced the 2018 schedule on Wednesday, which features 28 games at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
The 56-game slate includes 31 contests against 2017 NCAA Tournament teams, including three NCAA Regional hosts, three Super Regional teams, two national seeds and two College World Series teams. The Red Raiders will play all three Super Regional squads on the road, beginning with Kentucky (March 9-11), followed by College World Series teams Louisville (March 13-14) and TCU (April 27-29).
Texas Tech, coming off its second-straight Big 12 championship and back-to-back years as an NCAA National Seed, will square off with six different conference champions in 2018 for a total of 19 games.
For the ninth time in 10 years, the Red Raiders will begin the season in Lubbock, with Opening Day slated for Friday, Feb. 16, against Maine at 2 p.m. Tech will host the Black Bears for a four-game set on Feb. 16-18 as part of a five-game home stand to start the year, concluding with 2017 Western Athletic Conference champion New Mexico State on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
It will be one of three matchups with the Aggies this season. The two teams will mirror last year’s series, playing one game in Lubbock (Feb. 20), one in Las Cruces, New Mexico (March 27) and the finale in Midland (March 27).
The first road trip of the year follows the first New Mexico State game, with a four-game swing in south Texas. The Red Raiders take on UTSA in San Antonio on Feb. 23-25, followed by a midweek game at UTRGV in Edinburg on Feb. 27 to round out the month.
Tech returns home and opens March with another five-game home stand, all against conference champions from last season. The Red Raiders battle Sun Belt champ South Alabama in a four-game weekend on March 2-4, then end the stretch against Mountain West title winner New Mexico on Wednesday, March 7.
The longest road trip of the year comes next, which features games against two NCAA Super Regional teams and the beginning of conference play. Tech heads to Lexington to take on Kentucky on March 9-11, then remains in state to battle Louisville in a two-game series on March 13-14. The Red Raiders round out the trip with the Big 12 opener at Baylor on March 16-18 in Waco, completing a stretch of 11 of 12 games against 2017 NCAA Tournament teams.
The Red Raiders are home for the next two weekends, taking on Colonial Athletic champ Northeastern on March 23-25 for four games, followed by the first home conference series against West Virginia on March 29-31. Sandwiched between the two is the second of three meetings with New Mexico State in Las Cruces (March 27), with the final game coming after the WVU series on April 3 at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland.
Tech is on the road for the next four contests, with a trip to Lawrence to face Kansas on April 6-8, followed by a midweek game against Missouri Valley champion Dallas Baptist on April 10. The Red Raiders have the next two weekends at home for Big 12 action against Kansas State (April 13-15) and Oklahoma (20-22), with a road two-game midweek swing between the two at New Mexico on April 17-18.
The series against the Sooners begins another stretch where Tech will play 15 games of its final 16 regular season games against NCAA Tournament teams from 2017. After facing OU, Tech heads to Fayetteville for a two-game midweek set against Arkansas on April 24-25, followed by a weekend in Fort Worth against TCU on April 27-29.
The Red Raiders return home for another five-game set in Lubbock to round out the home slate, facing San Diego on Tuesday, May 1, before a weekend matchup with Texas on May 4-6. The following week, Tech plays Dallas Baptist at Rip Griffin Park on May 8, before wrapping the regular season in Stillwater against Oklahoma State on May 17-19.
The top eight teams in the conference standings will advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on May 23-27. The five-day tournament is held at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
2018 Texas Tech Schedule (PDF)
