June 4, 2004
ATLANTA – Left-handed pitcher Dallas Braden (6-4) struck out 11 in 8-and-two-thirds innings and Josh Brady went 4-for-5 with four runs batted in to lead No. 2 seed Texas Tech (39-19) past No. 3 seed Mississippi State (34-23), 10-6, in the opening game of the Atlanta Regional on Friday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Red Raiders opened up the scoring in game one in the bottom of the second inning with four unearned runs. Ryan Andrews singled to left field to drive in Josh Haney who reached on an error by the MSU first baseman for the first run of the inning. After a sacrifice bunt to move runners over to second and third base, Josh Brady drove in two more runs with a two-out single to right field to give Texas Tech a three-run advantage. Jose Delgado added another run for the Red Raiders with a triple to left-center field to drive in Brady as the lead was pushed to 4-0 after two innings of play.
MSU’s Tyler Scarbrough led off the third inning with a base hit to left field and Joseph Hunter doubled to the left-center gap to plate Scarbrough as the Bulldogs cut the lead to three, 4-1. The Bulldogs tallied another single to put runners at first and third with one out, but Braden ended the rally by inducing a ground ball double play 6-4-3 to close the inning.
Brady struck again for Texas Tech in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run blast, his 20th of the season, to right field to increase the lead to five runs, 6-1.
The Bulldogs’ Jeff Butts drove in Thomas Berkery with a single to center field in the top of the fifth inning to bring Mississippi State within four runs as Texas Tech led 6-2.
TTU’s Cooper Fouts, Brady and Delgado connected on three straight singles in the bottom of the sixth inning to score another run and chase Bulldog starter, Alan Johnson, from the game. MSU’s Jamie Gant entered the game on the mound for the Bulldogs with runners on first and third and one out. After a wild pitch moved Delgado over to second base, Cameron Blair doubled through the left side off the outstretched glove of MSU shortstop Steve Gendron to plate two more runs as the Red Raiders grabbed a 9-2 lead after six complete innings.
Brady tallied his fourth hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double down the left-field line and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Blair as Texas Tech led 10-2 heading to the ninth inning.
In the Bulldogs final at bat, MSU mounted a come back as Gendron drove in Hunter with two outs. Brad Corley followed with his 19th home run of the season to chase TTU’s Braden out of the game. The Red Raiders’ John Milton came into the game and closed out the Bulldog rally with a ground out as Texas Tech held off Mississippi State’s late charge, 10-6.
Right-handed pitcher Alan Johnson (3-4) picked up the loss on the mound for MSU, throwing 5.1 innings, allowing nine hits, nine runs, five earned runs and fanned five. Hunter finished 4-for-4 at the plate, driving in one run to lead the Bulldogs offensively.
The second-seeded Red Raiders will face the winner of No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (41-19) and No. 4 seed Jacksonville State (31-27) at 3 p.m., who will face each other at 7 p.m. tonight. The loser of Tech and JSU will take on Mississippi State at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning.
Line Score
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MSU 0-0-1-0-1-0-0-0-4 6-13-3TTU 0-4-0-2-0-3-0-1-X 10-12-0
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