Texas Tech’s Larry Hays became the fourth head baseball coach to reach 1,500 wins April 2 when the Red Raiders beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 10-5. The 38-year veteran has led Texas Tech to the NCAA tournament nine times.

Only Texas’ Augie Garrido, Wichita State’s Gene Stephenson and Florida State’s Mike Martin previously reached the milestone. All are still coaching.

Hays has coached the Red Raiders for 22 seasons and has more than 800 wins at the school. Prior to winning the top job at Texas Tech, hays coached at Lubbock Christian University, where he earned 695 wins. In 36 years as a head coach at the collegiate level, his teams have posted 40+ win seasons 20 times.

Hays earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Eastern New Mexico, and coached basketball at Lubbock Christian before starting the school's baseball team in 1970. He also spent time as athletics director at the school. The institution's baseball field is named Hays Field in his honor.