Robin Villeneuve homers twice, but Texas Tech baseball surrenders six long balls in a 15-8 loss to CSU Bakersfield, snapping a seven-game streak.
Texas Tech baseball finally looked human Sunday afternoon. After bulldozing opponents for a week straight, the Red Raiders ran into a CSU Bakersfield lineup that refused to stay quiet.
Despite two home runs and three hits from Robin Villeneuve and a first Texas Tech blast from Caden Ferraro, Tech dropped a 15-8 slugfest at Rip Griffin Park, ending its seven-game winning streak.
The loss didn’t cost the Red Raiders the series - they still claimed it with back-to-back run-rule wins - but it did expose some cracks on the mound.
CSU Bakersfield entered the finale struggling at the plate. They left Lubbock with six home runs and nine extra-base hits.
It started fast as Tech found itself chasing from the jump, staring at a 6-0 hole before the bats had time to settle.
Villeneuve answered in the third with a solo shot to get Texas Tech baseball on the board, and Logan Hughes followed with an RBI double to cut it to 6-2.
The Roadrunners detonated again in the fourth. A grand slam off Ryan Free ballooned the deficit to 10-2 and forced Tech back into comeback mode.
Ferraro responded with a leadoff homer - his first as a Red Raider - and Villeneuve launched his second of the day to trim the margin.
Villeneuve finished with three hits, including a two-out RBI double later in the game, continuing his early-season power surge.
But every time Texas Tech baseball threw a punch, CSU Bakersfield countered with another blast. A three-run homer in the sixth stretched the lead to 14-5, putting the pressure squarely on Tech’s lineup.
Freshman Linkin Garcia kept fighting. His two-RBI single in the seventh pushed his season total to 20 RBIs and kept his average at an even .400.
Hughes added a late double, and Ferraro scorched a 110 mph liner in the ninth that nearly left the yard.
Reliever Jacob Gutierrez shut the door over the final 2.2 innings, stranding the tying run on deck and ending Tech’s rally hopes.
The silver lining? Texas Tech baseball has now scored at least eight runs in eight straight games. The offense is alive and dangerous.
Next up, Penn State visits Lubbock for the final non-conference home series.
If Sunday proved anything, it’s this: the Red Raiders can mash ... but they’ll need cleaner innings on the mound to keep streaks alive.