According to texastech.com, Texas Tech baseball head coach Tim Tadlock announced on Monday changes to the Red Raider coaching staff.

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The changes are just a reshuffling of the current makeup of the staff and is just seen as an opportunity to move Matt Gardner from volunteer coach to Pitching Coach. The current pitching coach, Ray Hayward, will be moved to a special assistant role.

"Ray and Matt have been a great team working with our pitchers and will continue to do so with our program," Tadlock said. "Over the last three years, Matt has had numerous opportunities to be a pitching coach at other programs and has shown great loyalty and desire to stay in Lubbock. Our reshuffling is a direct result of wanting to keep our staff together and moving forward to make our program the best it can be."

Gardner, an Oklahoma State graduate, has been at Texas Tech since 2013 under Tim Tadlock and has been in the coaching profession since 2009. Before playing at Oklahoma State, Gardner pitched for Tim Tadlock at Grayson County College.

"Ray will be our special assistant, which is an evolving role in college baseball and will be a great asset to our staff & team," Tadlock said. "Ray's experience and wisdom in all areas of baseball is something that is immeasurable and this role will allow our program great opportunities for growth. He will continue to be a fundamental piece in developing our student-athletes into championship individuals both on and off the field."

Hayward has been a part of Tadlock's staff at Texas Tech since 2012. The pitching staff has excelled under Hayward but Gardner is a young name that has received a lot of attention from other programs.

"Matt is one of the rising names in college coaching and we’re excited about him continuing to work with our pitchers and catchers," Tadlock said. "He has been invaluable in game preparation and his due diligence in day-to-day tasks both on and off the field garners well-deserved respect. We feel like it would be a mistake to not recognize the contributions he has brought to our team and we are beyond excited he will remain on staff."

Gardner and the pitching staff will look to improve on a year in which the team ERA was the 10th lowest in school history. Returning junior left-hander Steven Gingery led the Red Raiders with a 1.58 ERA, putting together a 10-1 record along with 107 strikeouts as a sophomore. Also returning for the 2018 season are Davis Martin, John McMillon, Ryan Shetter and several more.

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