The 21st ranked Texas Tech softball team took advantage of 18 Colorado State walks Thursday as the Red Raiders opened their week in Clearwater, Florida with a 17 to 5 victory over the Rams. The Red Raiders will stay in Clearwater for the USF The Game Tournament being played today through Sunday. Tech will face Jacksonville today at 4:30 before playing Long Island later in the evening with first pitch scheduled for 7 o’clock. All of the tournament games will be held from the Eddie C. Moore Complex.

Staying on the diamond the Red Raider baseball team will hit the road for the first time this season after finishing its 18 game home-stand to open up the season with a 12 and 6 record. Tech will be opening their Big 12 Conference schedule as well when they kick off a three game weekend series against the Baylor Bears beginning today at 6:30. The Red Raiders will play nine of its next 12 and 18 of its next 24 games away from Dan Law Field. Tech will be looking to come away with their first-ever series win on the road to open up Big 12 Play, as their 0 and 7 all-time in series on the road to open conference play.

In Red Raiders news 8th seeded Lady Raiders basketball team will end their five year hiatus from the NCAA Women’s Championship when tip-off gets underway on Saturday at 3 o’clock against 9th seeded St. Johns University in Stanford as part of the Spokane Region. This will be the Lady Raiders 19th trip to the NCAA tournament, and you can watch their game verse St. Johns live on ESPN2. The other first round game out of Stanford will feature the top seeded Stanford Cardinals squaring off against the 16 seeded UC Davis with a 5:30 tip-off time.

The 9 and 3 Texas Tech women’s Tennis teams hosts two conference opponents and one non-conference foe beginning this afternoon, continuing on Saturday, and concluding on Sunday morning. The Red Raider squad will play the Kansas Jayhawks today who come into the match with a 6 and 4 mark in non-conference play. First serve for today’s contest is scheduled for 3 o’clock from the McLeod Tennis Center.

The Red Raiders will then take on the Kentucky Wildcats at 10 am on Saturday, and will wrap up their weekend on Sunday against their second Big 12 opponent of the season, as the 9 and 1 Kansas State Wildcats will be in town with first serve scheduled for 11 am.

The Texas Tech men's tennis team will complete their non-conference match schedule on Sunday, March 20 against UT San Antonio. First serve against the Roadrunners begins at 3 p.m.

The 5th ranked LCU baseball team opened up a three-game Sooner Athletic Conference series yesterday with a doubleheader against Oklahoma Christian University from Dobson Field. The two teams split the double header yesterday with LCU winning the first game 12 to 0, then falling in game two by a final of 6 to 11. The Chaparrals will wrap up the three game series against OCU today with first pitch scheduled for 1 o’clock.

Staying with LCU the 5th ranked Chaparral Softball team wrapped up play Thursday in the Tucson Invitational with a 13 to 4 victory over Lakeland College, and a 14 to 0 shut-out win over the University of St. Mary. LCU finished the tournament with a 9 and 1 over all record, with their only loss coming to Vanguard University on Monday.

Emily Atkins registered a game-high 27 points and 6th seeded Lubbock Christian University Lady Chap basketball team overcame 12 blocked shots by the 3rd seeded Columbia College out of Missouri - en route to a 76-64 upset victory in the opening round of the 2011 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Thursday morning at Oman Arena.  With the win the Lady Chaps advanced to today’s 12:30 p.m. contest, where they will face 2nd seeded Bethel University out of Tenn. You can hear that game right here on 1340 the Fan.

In NCAA men’s basketball news Perry Jones III will miss the first five games next season if he decides to stay at Baylor after and NCAA reinstatement committee upheld an earlier ruling that declared the standout freshman ineligible. As part of Thursday’s ruling, Jones must also repay at least $700 in impermissible benefits, which includes a trip to California last August to attend and NFL preseason game before he began classes at Baylor. The 6 foot-11 Jones averaged 13.9 points and 7.2 rebounds this season and is projected to be one of the top picks in the upcoming NBA draft.

In NHL news the Dallas Stars defeated the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhakws last night 5 to 0 to tally some key points in the Western Conference play-off race. The win gives the two teams identical records now at 38-25-and 8.

Over in the NBA all three of the Texas teams will hit the hard wood tonight, with two of them squaring off against one another. The 48 and 20 Dallas Mavericks will play host to the 54 and 13 San Antonio Spurs looking to hand them just their second back to back losses on the year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 from the American Airlines Center.

And the Houston Rockets will be in action from home as the Boston Celtics come to town. Houston enters the game sitting at 35 and 34 while the Celtics come in at 48 and 18. Tip-off between Houston and Boston will get underway beginning at 7:30.

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