HOUSTON – Matt Dillard was stellar against one of the nation's top teams, but the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders used a 6-run seventh inning to open up a pitcher's duel on their way to a 8-0 win over Sam Houston on Day 2 of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
Dillard went head-to-head with Texas Tech (7-3) starter Patrick Montverde for six frames before calling it a day with a career-high eight strikeouts. He took the loss, despite allowing just one unearned run on three hits.
For the Red Raiders, Montverde was every bit as good in running his record to 2-0 on the year. The lefty punched out nine Bearkats (2-5) in his 7.0 shutout frames, allowing just three hits of his own.
Jackon Loftin,
Jack Rogers and
Wes Folse all picked up hits at the plate for Sam Houston.
Dillard looked good early, punching out a pair of Red Raiders in each of the first two innings and working around a leadoff double in the second; however, a 1-out single and an error set Texas Tech up in the third and Jace Jung got Tim Tadlock's team on top with a sacrifice fly to score Parker Kelly for a 1-0 lead.
Sam Houston tried to answer an inning later as
Jackson Loftin doubled off the left-field wall and moved to third base on a balk, but Montverde bore down and struck out three consecutive Bearkats to leave the tying run stranded 90 feet away from scoring.
Dillard worked out of another jam in the sixth, loading the bases on his first three walks of the game, but proceeded to strike out Cal Conley before getting Kurt Wilson to ground out to keep the Kats within striking distance at 1-0.
But the seventh inning was a different story as the Texas Tech offense finally got the big hit it was looking for. The Red Raiders upped the lead to 3-0 on RBI singles by Jace Jung and Dylan Neuse before Conley essentially put the game away, blasting a grand slam into the upper deck of right field for a 7-0 lead.
The Bearkats will close out the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. vs No. 13 TCU. The game can be watched on AT&T SportsNet as well as Astros.com, MLB.com and the Astros' Facebook page.
