Dylan Maxcey making most of his chance, helping Texas Tech baseball down UT

The way Texas Tech baseball coach Tim Tadlock regards Kevin Bazzell, the other Red Raiders catchers know playing time can be hard to come by.

With Bazzell missing the last six games because of an illness, Dylan Maxcey has a great opportunity this weekend with No. 17 Texas Tech hosting No. 22 Texas in the opening Big 12 series. Maxcey pounced on the chance Saturday, contributing a two-run homer and a pair of RBI singles to a 7-2 victory.

Maxcey and freshman Davis Rivers have shared time behind the plate in the absence of Bazzell, who's projected as a potential high pick in July's Major League draft.

"With Baz being down, it's obviously one of our best bats," Maxcey said, "and I don't really think anybody on this team can fill his role to the extent he does. But I think there's a lot of other things we can do on a baseball field and off the baseball field to be prepared in case something like that happens.

"I think Rivers is doing a really good job in his role, and I'd like to think I'm doing a really good job in my role, just kind of doing some of the production he does, not only on the hitting side but on the catching side as well."

The sophomore from Friendswood drove in the Red Raiders' first run with a sinking liner in front of diving center fielder Will Gasparino. His homer was a two-run blast in the fourth that made Tech's lead 5-2 and finished Texas starter Cody Howard (2-1). Tech added on in the seventh when Maxcey drove in one run with an infield single and another scored on an error.

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Tech (11-3, 1-1) beat Texas (8-6, 1-1) for the first time in six games dating to 2022. The series finale's at 2 p.m. Sunday at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park.

Tadlock said before the season he'd like Bazzell to "catch 162 games if he can," quickly acknowledging that being behind the plate every game probably wasn't realistic.

While Bazzell's been out, Maxcey's gone 6 for 17 with the homer, nine runs batted in and five scored. In the Red Raiders' 11-8 victory Tuesday at New Mexico, Maxcey's three-run double erased an 8-7 deficit.

Last year in Big 12 play, Tech often started Hudson White at catcher in Friday and Sunday games and Maxcey on Saturday. White transferred to Arkansas after the season, and Tech moved Bazzell from third base to catcher.

That means Maxcey's in a similar position, staying ready for intermittent playing time.

"It has to do with preparation," he said. "But also being a sophomore, being one extra year into this, really, really helps with that. Last year, I had a lot of pinch-hit at-bats. I really think that (being ready) is more of an experience thing, a maturity thing. Just being here every day, showing up and staying prepared and focusing on the right thing is probably the biggest thing."

Maxcey also caught one of the Red Raiders' best starts of the season Saturday. Mac Heuer (2-0) went six innings, gave up a pair of solo homers among three hits, and struck out eight.

It was quite a test for the 6-foot-5, 265-pound freshman righthander, especially after the Longhorns won the series opener 22-8 on Friday night.

"It's definitely the biggest atmosphere I've ever pitched in for sure," Heuer said. "You could kind of feel the crowd. It was like electricity kind of running through there, especially in the first couple (of innings). There's nothing like Big 12 baseball, especially on the weekend, so it was pretty cool."

Heuer stranded two runners apiece in the first and fourth innings, yielded solo homers in the second and third, but retired the last seven batters he faced. He threw 107 pitches.

"I felt like the longer I went, the better I got," he said. "I felt like (coaches) saw that and just let me go as long as I could."

"He had good mound presence," Tadlock said. "Good command. Good fastball. Good secondary pitch. Attacked hitters. I really like the way he went about it."

Ryan Free pitched two scoreless innings in relief, working his way through the eighth after the first two reached via a base hit and being hit by a pitch. Josh Sanders worked around a single and an error in the ninth.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech baseball catcher Dylan Maxcey delivers with Kevin Bazzell out