LUBBOCK, Texas — No. 2 Texas Baseball lost to No. 16 Texas Tech, 5-4, on a walk-off steal of home in the 10th inning of the Big 12 opener on Friday at Rip Griffin Park.
The Longhorns (18-6, 0-1) hit four solo homers and had a total of 11 hits in the game but came up just short in extra innings.
Pete Hansen pitched seven innings and allowed just three runs on three hits, all solo homers. He struck out seven batters and retired the final 17 hitters that he faced, not allowing a base runner from the third through seventh innings.
Ivan Melendez went 3-for-3 with a double, a home run, one RBI and one run scored. Skyler Messinger was 3-for-5 with a double and a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning.
Aaron Nixon pitched 2 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and did not allow a hit. But back-to-back walks to start the 10th inning ended up leading to the game-winning run.
The Longhorns took an early 1-0 lead when Eric Kennedy hit a leadoff homer to start the game. Texas Tech answered with a pair of solo homers of their own in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead.
The Red Raiders hit their third solo homer of the game in the bottom of the second to extend the lead to 3-1.
Melendez cut into the Texas Tech lead in the seventh inning with a solo homer to right field, his 11th homer of the season.
The Longhorns jumped back into the lead in the top of the eighth when Trey Faltine and Skyler Messinger hit back-to-back solo homers off of a Red Raiders’ reliever.
Texas Tech tied the game up with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth. The run was produced from a leadoff walk, a stolen base, a throwing error and an RBI fielder’s choice.
The Red Raiders started the bottom of the 10th with back-to-back walks and a sacrifice bunt to put the winning run at third base. Nixon was able to get a strikeout and was nearly out of the inning but a straight steal of home ended the game.
Texas had their share of opportunities throughout the game but were unable to take full advantage and left 10 total runners on base.
The Longhorns will look to even the series with the Red Raiders on Saturday at 2 p.m.
