Gavin Kash smashed.

Texas Tech baseball's junior first baseman asserted himself into Saturday afternoon's game against Gardner-Webb in a big and historic way in front of a sellout crowd.

With his team in the midst of a crooked inning, the left-handed power bat saw a pitch he liked and propelled a baseball over the centerfield wall that landed 486 feet from home plate.

More important, he finished with a school-record four doubles and highlighted a seven-run inning that helped the Red Raiders claim a 29-3 victory over the Bulldogs and a series win inside Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

"I thought his first at bat was good," Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock said of Kash, who held a .194 batting average coming into Saturday's contest. "I thought the second at bat, obviously, was good. And kinda got going from there. This game will do that to ya. It challenges you mentally and physically."

The big inning helped freshman Mac Heuer (1-0), who was making his first start of the year, settle in and be more aggressive with his fastball and breaking pitches on a windy Lubbock day.

Going into Saturday's contest, in which he replaced Zane Petty in the rotation, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound righthander owned a 3.38 earned-run average in two relief appearances for Texas Tech (8-2). Heuer showed promise in an extended role, striking out one but allowing one earned run in five innings, against the Bulldogs (2-8).

"I had a little sickness earlier in the week, lost some weight, so I think that was the Ian part of my velo (velocity) being down today," Heuer said when asked to assess his performance. "Slider, I thought, was a lot better in the third and fourth inning.

"Had that nice long break (second inning) and settled in there."

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Moving on up

Prior to the three-game series against Gardner-Webb, Gavin Kash had batted cleanup in the Texas Tech baseball lineup.

Then, Tim Tadlock and his staff wanted to try something different. They decided to move Kash up to leadoff in order to provide a different look to opposing pitchers and, maybe, get their left-handed slugger more at bats.

It's worked, so far, as Kash has combined to go 6-for-12 with six RBI and five runs scored in the first two games of the series against the Bulldogs. More so, it's put him in a good mindset prior the start of Big 12 Conference play next weekend.

"Really just felt like it was a good spot for him, looking at it," Tadlock said of moving Kash to leadoff. "Really, yesterday, it was him and (Austin) Green. ... Just thought, hey, you could come out and take a hold of things right from the get-go. He puts a lot of pressure on you as a pitcher.

"Start the game, walk that guy up. Could be pretty fun."

Not a great start for Gardner-Webb pitching

While the Texas Tech offense was clicking in the second inning, Gardner-Webb did itself no favors from the mound.

Starting pitcher Michael Ciminiello (0-1) had control issues from the start, hitting one batter in 1 1/3 innings of work before he was pulled for Gavin Schmitt, and Josh Gentile, until Gardner-Webb ended the offensive onslaught.

In total, Texas Tech sent 19 batters to the plate and scored 13 runs in the second inning. This included four walks and five hit batters in the second, which was the second 10-run inning the Red Raiders have turned in this season — the first was against Texas Southern last weekend.

The trio of Bulldogs pitchers threw 93 pitches — 35 for strikes in three innings.

What's next?

Texas Tech and Gardner-Webb are set to conclude the three-game set with a 2 p.m. Sunday tilt. The contest is scheduled to be streamed online on ESPN+.

Rest of the pitching rotation

Here's what the final matchup looks like, starting pitcher wise, for Texas Tech and Gardner-Webb.

• Sunday, Texas Tech RHP Jack Washburn (1-0, 7.56) vs. Gardner-Webb RHP Parker Dixon (0-0, 0.00)

Texas Tech baseball schedule for next week

The Red Raiders are scheduled to take on New Mexico at 3 p.m. Tuesday in a midweek game before welcoming Texas for a three-game set in the final meeting between the in-state and Big 12 foes in conference play. The Longhorns and Tech begin the series at 6:30 p.m. March 8.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Gavin Kash nets 6 RBIs as Texas Tech baseball downs Gardner-Webb in Lubbock