In baseball, a pitch here or there can make all the difference. And that was certainly the case in the University of Delaware’s NCAA Baseball Tournament setback to Texas Tech Friday afternoon, June 2.

The Blue Hens put in a gutty effort in their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 16 years, but host and top seed Texas Tech turned four double plays and got the hitting it needed in the eighth inning to post a hard-earned 5-2 win over the Blue Hens at Dan Law Field at Griffin Park.

The Colonial Athletic Association champion Blue Hens (34-22) held the No. 6/5 ranked Red Raiders to just four hits over the first seven inning thanks to an impressive outing by starter Ron Marinaccio, but the offense hit into some bad luck time and time again and the result was just their second loss in the last 12 outings.

Delaware, appearing in the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2001 but for the 17th time overall, will now look to regroup and advance in the double elimination tournament on Saturday, June 3, at 3 p.m. (EST) when the Hens face the loser of Friday night’s late game between No. 16 ranked and No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 4 seed Sam Houston State. The Hens have not lost consecutive games since the first week of May.

Texas Tech (44-15), the two-time defending Big 12 regular season champions and a 2016 College World Series participant, advanced to the winner’s bracket game Saturday at 7 p.m. The Red Raiders won at home for the sixth straight time and improved to 24-5 on their home turf this spring.

Playing before a raucous sellout crowd and shaking off a 90-minute weather delay, the Blue Hens held their own and then some. Delaware trailed just 3-2 in the sixth inning and had runners on first and second with no out, but a rocket line drive off the bat of Jeremy Ake was snared by Texas Tech third baseman Josh Jung and he threw off-balance to second to double-up Calvin Scott. Delaware’s next batter, Doug Trimble, struck out and the threat was over.

The Red Raiders then got some breathing room in the eighth as slugging shortstop Orlando Garcia hit a two-run homer to leftfield off UD reliever Burk FitzPatrick to push the lead to 5-2.

“This was a heck of a ballgame,” said Delaware head coach Jim Sherman. “Almost 300 pitches (actually 275) in that game and it really came down to two of them. Ake smoked that ball down to third and if he doesn’t catch it, it probably goes down to the corner and we tie the game up. That might have deflated us a little bit. Then we throw a hanging breaking ball to Garcia and he hits it out. Other than that, I thought we played well. Ronny (Marinaccio) pitched well. I tip my hat to Texas Tech. It was a good college baseball game.”

Marinaccio, the Hens’ starter-turned-closer-turned starter, was outstanding once again. He came back out after the weather delay in the second inning and didn’t skip a beat, battling for 6.1 innings and allowing just four hits and three earned runs. He entered the game having gone 4-1 with an 0.92 ERA over 38 innings in his previous seven starts. After setting down the side in the first inning, he found some trouble in the second inning after the delay and allowed two runs as he walked two batters and hit another to bring in a run.

“I felt good coming back (out of the delay),” said Marinaccio, a junior who was a starter in 2016, moved to the bullpen to start the 2017 season, and then rejoined the rotation due to an injury to ace left-hander Brandon Walter at mid-season. “My arm was fine but I struggled with the zone a little bit.”

After going down 2-0, the Hens finally got on the board in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Trimble to cut the lead to 2-1. The Red Raiders then got it back in the bottom half and went up 3-1 on a groundout by Cody Farhat.

Delaware got closer once again in that pivotal fifth, pulling to within 3-2 on Nick Patten’s RBI single to the left side to put runners on first and second. Ake, who showed bunt on the first pitch he saw, then delivered his rocket shot that unfortunately found the glove of Jung.

“Like Coach Sherman said, a couple of plays go the opposite way and its the difference in the game,” said Delaware All-CAA outfielder Jordan Glover, who delivered two hits and stole two bases in the game. “Both teams played well but it just came down to those little plays that could have gone either way. We just needed to get some hits in some spots but when you face good pitching, you know its going to be a battle.”