Duke Dominates Texas Tech to Force Decisive Super Regional Game 3 [Photos]
Texas Tech Baseball vs Duke- NCAA Super Regional June 10, 2018
Sunday afternoon's thunderstorm that delayed the start of Game 2 of the Super Regional between no. 9 Texas Tech and Duke ended up setting the mood for the Red Raider faithful.
Texas Tech will have to wait at least one more day for a chance to punch their ticket to their third College World Series appearance in school history after losing to Duke 11-2.
The Super Regional is now tied 1-1, with the winner-take-all Game 3 being played Monday afternoon (June 11) at 3 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park. It will be televised on ESPN2.
The first three innings of Sunday's game didn't see any runs put on the board, but Texas Tech was quickly on its heels, in the second inning, with starting pitcher Caleb Kilian having to work out of a bases loaded jam.
The Blue Devils broke the seal in the bottom of the fourth inning by putting a 4-spot on the board. Zack Kone led off the inning with a single, and then advanced first to third on Griffin Conine's single. Both runners then scored on Joey Loperfido's triple to left center. Two more doubles by Duke hitters in the inning netted them two more runs.
Texas Tech wasn't able to respond at all in the top of the fifth inning (NCAA rules had Texas Tech as the vising team in Game 2), going down 1-2-3.
The Blue Devils then chased Kilian from the game two batters into the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring their fifth run of the game. Kurt Wilson was brought in to relive Kilian, and that's when the wheels fell off for the Red Raiders.
Wilson gave up a single, walk, single and triple to the first hitters he faced before recording a strikeout. Max Miller's bases loaded triple scored three more runs for Duke, making the score 9-0. At that point, Connor Queen was brought in to replace Wilson on the mound and to stop damage. Queen got the final two outs of the fifth, but not before Duke added their tenth run of the game on a sacrifice fly.
Down 10-0, Texas Tech added single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't mount a large rally against the Blue Devils bullpen.
Monday afternoon, Texas Tech will put Davis Martin on the mound for the do-or-die Game 3. Coming into the game, Martin's record is 7-5 with a 3.60 ERA. Last week against Louisville in the NCAA Regional, he pitched seven innings and only giving up two runs to pick up the win.
Martin will have to figure out a way to stop Griffin Conine's torrid pace at the plate. In Duke's five previous elimination games, Conine has hit .429 with 3 HR, 3 RBIs and nine runs scored.