Lukas Pirko out as Texas Tech baseball gets set for Utah series
The Texas Tech baseball team will play this weekend at Utah's new $38 million ballpark, but Tech will be without No. 1 starter Lukas Pirko.
It's bad enough for the Texas Tech baseball team to have the worst earned-run average in the Big 12. Now the Red Raiders are going to be without their Friday night starter. Lukas Pirko will be "down for some time," Tech coach Tim Tadlock said after the Red Raiders' 13-8 home loss to Incarnate Word on Wednesday, April 15.
Tadlock said the junior righthander has an injury, not arm related, but declined to give specifics. "It's something he's been trying to take care of through the spring," Tadlock said, "and what he told me before today's game is it was worse the last two weeks. " More: Why Kirby Hocutt is pushing more third-party NIL, a new collective More: 4 talking points from Texas Tech baseball series loss to West Virginia Tech (20-16, 6-9) plays a Big 12 series this weekend at Utah (17-15, 6-9).
The Red Raiders and the Utes are part of a three-way tie for 10th in the conference standings with Cincinnati (25-14, 6-9). They're six games back of conference-leading No. 21 Kansas (27-10, 12-3).
Tadlock said Tech's rotation against Utah will be Jackson Burns, Connor Mohan and Adam Hayes. Pirko (3-3, 6. 17) has started the first game of the Red Raiders' past six series, moving into that role the weekend before Big 12 play began.