Two days, two walk-offs for Texas Tech’s Kurt Wilson

On Friday night, Texas Tech shortstop Kurt Wilson played the role of hero for the Red Raiders with a walk-off steal of home against their intrastate rivals, the Texas Longhorns. On Saturday, he followed up his heroics in grand fashion.

With the game knotted at 12 in the bottom of the 10th inning, the bases loaded and two outs, Wilson drilled a 1-0 offering over the right-field fence to win the game on a walk-off grand slam, his second walk-off in as many days against the second-ranked Longhorns.

Wilson, a fifth-year senior, capped a wild comeback for No. 16 Texas Tech in a 2-for-5 day, adding a triple, a walk and three runs to his final line. The Red Raiders took a 7-2 lead in the first inning but trailed 11-7 heading into the bottom of the eighth. They scored four runs to tie the game and trailed by one going into the bottom of the 10th, plating five runs with Wilson’s grand slam serving as the exclamation point.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Wilson swiped home with two outs on an 0-2 count to steal the first game of the series against the Longhorns. Texas reliever Aaron Nixon had his head down while getting into the set position and Wilson capitalized to score before the Longhorns realized what occurred.

No player in MLB history has ever hit a walk-off grand slam the day or game after stealing home for a walk-off win, giving Wilson a unique piece of baseball history with his two straight walk-offs. The last walk-off straight steal of home in the Majors was on Aug. 22, 1982, when the Cardinals' Glenn Brummer slid in safely to beat the Giants in the 12th inning.

Wilson has bounced around the diamond in his five-year career at Texas Tech, appearing at every position but catcher and working as a sparsely used reliever in his first four seasons. The 23-year-old became the Red Raiders’ starting shortstop this season, batting .300 with three home runs, three triples, three doubles, three stolen bases, 25 RBIs, 18 walks and a .913 OPS in 24 games.