OMAHA — It is not that big a deal, Texas Tech Coach Tim Tadlock said. Sometimes he overshifts his infield against left-handed pull hitters, putting three players on the right side of second base like major league teams do for David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. Sometimes he moves defenders a few feet, subtly, all in the hope of getting an out.

“We do what everybody does,” Tadlock said. “We’re not reinventing everything. We do watch video, and we do try to figure out where they’re going to hit it. It doesn’t always work, you know what I mean? It all depends on the pitcher.”

Tadlock spoke in a low, gravelly voice while standing in a hallway late last week at TD Ameritrade Park, the home of the College World Series. The significance was not lost on him. Last season, Tadlock’s first as a Division I head coach, the Red Raiders finished 26-30 over all and eighth in the Big 12. Before this season, Texas Tech had never been to the College World Series. It never even won an N.C.A.A. regional.

But here were the Red Raiders, Omaha first-timers, among the eight best teams in Division I. Texas Tech (45-21) would lose both its games here, undone by fielding errors in one-run losses to Texas Christian and Mississippi.