TCU favored, Tech picked 3rd in Big 12 baseball preseason poll
Texas Tech is slotted third behind TCU and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 baseball coaches poll released Thursday.
TCU received five of the nine first-place votes and 61 points. Oklahoma State got the other four first-place votes and 59 points. It was the fourth time in Big 12 history for the top two teams to be separated by two or fewer points.
Texas Tech earned 48 points and Texas 43.
Rounding out the poll, in order, are Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas State, Kansas and Baylor.
All the Big 12 teams open the season Feb. 17.
Last year, TCU won the Big 12 regular-season championship. Texas and Oklahoma made the College World Series, and the Sooners reached the national-title round before losing to Mississippi.
Tech finished 39-22 last season and reached the final of the NCAA Statesboro Regional.
Tech golf
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Former Texas Tech golfer Hurly Long was 4 over par through 14 holes when play was suspended in Thursday's first round of the rain-delayed Dubai Desert Classic.
Long, 27, bogeyed the par-4 9th before the turn and took a triple-bogey 7 on No. 12 shortly before play was halted on account of gathering darkness.
Play only began at the European tour event after a delay of six hours caused by heavy overnight rain that left the course unplayable at Emirates Golf Club.Texas Tech senior Ludvig Aberg, playing on an exemption, was in the half of the field who were unable to start their first round. Play was scheduled to resume at 10 p.m. CST Thursday.
Tech track & field
Decathlon collegiate record holder Kyle Garland from Georgia led the heptathlon after Thursday's first day of the Texas Tech Open & Multis at the Sports Performance Center.
Garland ran the 60 meters in 6.86 seconds and long jumped 24 feet, 9 3/4 inches. He had a mark of 53-4 1/4 in the shot put and cleared 7-2 1/4 in the high jump.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound junior was runner-up in the heptathlon at last year's NCAA indoor championships. He set the collegiate record in the decathlon with 8,720 points last year at the U.S. Track & Field combined events championship, where he finished second.
The heptathlon field competing at the Sports Performance Center includes five men who last year achieved first-team all-America status, meaning they finished in the top eight at an NCAA championships meet.
Next behind Garland after Thursday's four events are Texas' Leo Neugebauer with 3,491 points and Arkansas State freshman Colby Eddowes with 3,328. Texas Tech's Denim Rogers is in fifth. He was boosted by a 6.84 time in the 60, good for first place and 940 of his 3,272 points.
Arkansas State's Camryn Newton-Smith won the women's pentathlon with 4,356 points over five events. Second and third were Texas' Kristine Blazevica (4,224) and Oregon's Ella Rush (4,100).
Day two of the three-day meet is Friday. The last three heptathlon events are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 3 p.m. Field-event start times Friday range from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and running-event start times from 4 p.m. to 8:05 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Sports roundup: TCU favored, Tech picked 3rd in Big 12 baseball preseason poll
