Afternoon Headlines for March 22nd

The Texas Tech Red Raider football practice that was originally scheduled for today at four has been moved to Wednesday afternoon with a four o’clock start time. The Red Raiders will continue their week with a four o’clock practice on Thursday as well and will wrap up the week with the Texas Tech Spring Game this Saturday at 1 p.m. from Jones AT&T Stadium.

In other Red Raider news the Texas Tech baseball team is in Dallas today for a midweek game against Dallas Baptist from Patriot Field with a 5 p.m. first pitch time. Tech sits at 14 and 7 on the season while Dallas Baptist comes into the game at 13 and 7. The Red Raiders David Paiz will take the mound opposite of the Patriots Jared Staford.

Meanwhile in other baseball news Texas Tech junior Stephen Hagen has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week and freshman outfielder Andre Wheeler was named Newcomer of the Week, and Texas A&M's right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling was named Pitcher of the Week in voting done by a panel of media covering the Big 12 Conference.

Staying on the diamond the 19 and 7 Lubbock Christian University baseball team will play host to Sul Ross State University today from Hays Field with first pitch scheduled for 5 o’clock. The schedule was changed from the two teams originally playing a double header to just the one nine-inning game.

The 5^th ranked Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparral softball team will play a double header today from Ann Lacy Stadium against the 10^th ranked Oklahoma City University, with the first game scheduled to begin at 5.  The Lady Chaps are on a roll as they won their last nine games of the Tucson Invitational. They head to OCU with a 25-4 overall record and 4-2 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play. OCU enters the game at 16 and 5 on the season with a 4-0 conference mark.

In Major League baseball news Nelson Figueroa has been chosen as the fifth starter in the Houston Astros pitching rotation. The 36-year-old right hander will complete the back end of the rotation behind Brett Myers, Wandy Rodriguez, J.A. Happ, and Bud Norris. Figueroa beat out the Astros’ top prospect in Jordan Lyles for the final rotation spot. Lyles has been reassigned to the Minor League Camp after posting a 1.98 ERA in five games this spring.

Texas Tech's Omo Osaghae and Kelsey Lloyd were named the Big 12 Track & Field Athletes of the Week after setting school records at the TCU Invitational this past weekend. Lloyd ran a 13.25 in the 100M hurdles to not only win the race but broke the previous school record of 13.33. Her personal-best time is tied for tops in the NCAA.

Osaghae used his first outdoor race of the season to re-write Tech's record books as the senior won the 110M hurdles at the TCU Invitational with a time of 13.49 breaking his previous record of 13.51. It was the fastest collegiate and national time ran so far this year. This marks the first time that Tech has swept the Big 12 Athlete of the Week award since May 13, 2008. The Red Raiders will run next at the UTEP Invitational this Sat., March 25.

In NBA news the San Antonio Spurs don’t know how long they’ll be with-out All-Star Forward Tim Duncan as the 34-year-old sprained his ankle in Monday nights 111 to 96 win over the Golden State Warriors. X-Rays on Duncan’s left ankle were negative, but Spurs general manager R.C. Buford stated today that team doctors will wait until the swelling goes down before a timetable to return is set.

In other NBA news after dealing with another late season injury, the Houston Rockets will bring back familiar fill in Mike Harris today on a ten day contract. Houston has signed Harris to provide depth after fellow forward Chase Budinger sprained his left ankle during Sunday’s game.

There’s three games on the scheduled tonight in the NBA beginning with the Chicago Bulls on the road against the Hawks with tip-off scheduled for 7. The Trailblazers will play host to the Wizards beginning at 9, and the defending champion Lakers will welcome in the Phoenix Suns to the Staples Center with tip-off getting started at 9:30.