Crites shines, Tech earns series win over Iowa State

Provided by Texas Tech Athletics

LUBBOCK, TX (NEWS RELEASE) – Powered by a three-RBI outing by Kennedy Crites, Texas Tech downed Iowa State, 7-5, to earn the first Big 12 series win of the Craig Snider era Sunday afternoon at Rocky Johnson Field.

Kennedy Crites shined, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead Texas Tech (27-12, 2-4 Big 12) to its first Big 12 series win of the season. After falling behind 3-1, Crites roped a pivotal two-RBI double to tie the contest in the bottom of the second.

“This is great for our ball club; a series win is a series win,” head coach Craig Snider said. “To lose the first game of the series in extra innings and then come back and battle for two games shows a lot of grit. It takes a team effort to win a series, and we saw that these last two days.”

Much like the second game of the series, Tech saw themselves down 3-0 after Iowa State (12-19, 1-5 Big 12) scored three runs off four hits during the opening frame.

Kailey Wyckoff responded for the Red Raiders, blasting a solo shot to cut the deficit to two at the end of the first.

Kendall Fritz (8-3) worked around a pair of hits in the top of the second to send the Tech offense back to the plate. After back-to-back walks put two runners on for Crites, she rocked a double to right center to tie the contest.

Another walk set up Makinzy Herzog for a base-clearing double down the left-field line to hand Tech a 5-3 lead. Peyton Blythe capped off the five-run inning with a RBI single up the middle.

After two quiet frames, a leadoff home run by Milaysia Ochoa seemed to bring some life to the Cyclone offense, but a double play in a bases-loaded situation silenced Iowa State. Again, Crites came up clutch with a single to left field to plate Alanna Barraza and get the run back in the home-half of the fifth.

Iowa State would again attempt to start a comeback as Ochoa hit another leadoff home run in the seventh, but Fritz would force three straight fly outs to secure the 7-5 win. The righty tallied four strikeouts to earn her eighth win of the season.

Cyclone starter Saya Swain (4-6) suffered the loss after allowing five runs off two hits and a trio of walks in 1.1 innings of work.

Notable

Kailey Wyckoff led the Red Raiders offensively, going 4-for-10 with four runs scored, a double, two home runs and four RBIs.

Texas Tech smashed four home runs over the weekend. Tech is now just three home runs shy of the single-season program record.

Tech earned the first series win of the Snider era this weekend. Head coach Craig Snider became the first coach to win their debut home conference series since the Big 12 went to three-game series in 2012.

Next Up

The Red Raiders will return to action on Thursday in a three-game series with No. 1 Oklahoma. First pitch from Norman is set for 6 p.m.

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