No.9 ANGELO STATE (5-1) at No.10 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (7-0)
Friday, February 19 4 p.m.
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: ASU leads 8-6
Tweet #LCUvsASU
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
LCU – Russell Reber (1-0, 6.23 ERA)
ASU – Bryce Zak (2-0, 2.45 ERA)
 
RANKINGS
LCU: No. 10 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper), No.16 (NCBWA), No.30 (D2Baseball News).
 
ASU: No.9 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper), No. 10 (HeroSports), No.11 (NCBWA), No.14 (D2Baseball News).
            
RECOGNITION
There are several national polls in college baseball and LCU's 7-0 season start has caught the attention of several of the polls. LCU made their debut in three of the national polls, receiving recognition from College Baseball Newspaper (No.10), NCBWA (No.16) and D2Baseball News (No.30).
 
SOLID START
LCU is 7-0 on the season and they are off to their best start since starting the 2011 campaign 14-0. The Chaps are the only team in the Heartland Conference without a loss.
 
HOLDING THINGS DOWN
LCU's bullpen did not allow an earned run during the series against New Mexico Highlands (bullpen combined for 4.2 innings of work). On the season, LCU's bullpen has a 2.49 ERA. Five different pitchers have come out of the pen and have combined for no earned runs in nine innings over 13.2 innings. Glen Warrick (1-0) has not allowed an earned run in three appearances spanning six innings this season (only three hits allowed).
 
JOLLY ROGERS
The Chaps in-game substitutes have combined to hit .455 this season. Ryan Rogers is 3-for-5 (.600) when entering the game in a non-starting role and has a pair of runs-batted-in.
 
NATIONALLY KNOWN
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced its first weekly NCAA Division II National Players of the Week awards of the 2016 season, for the week ending on Feb. 16, and No.9 Lubbock Christian University senior outfielder Brett Wilhelm was chosen as the national "Hitter of the Week."
 
Wilhelm, who opened the week announced as the Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week, led LCU to a 4-0 week and they are 7-0 on the season and off to their best start since 2011. He led LCU batting .615, going 8-for-13 from the plate with six runs batted in, a .667 on-base percentage and a 1.154 slugging mark. He tallied a trio of multi-hit performances and four of his eight hits were for extra bases (two doubles, a triple and a home run). Wilhelm also accounted for nine runs. He was also 6-for-9 (.667) with runners on base and 4-for-4 (1.000) when batting in a lead-off role. Wilhelm produced at least one hit, RBI and run in each of the four games played.
 
The Amarillo, Texas native leads the Heartland Conference this season in batting (.522) and slugging (.913), and also ranks third in on-base percentage (.593) and fifth in runs (13).
 
The honor is the first national player of the week honor received by an LCU baseball member since LCU joined the NCAA Division II ranks. LCU had eight NAIA National Player of the Week recipients during their span in the NAIA, with the last received by Brett Kauten (Apr. 20, 2013).
 
In an interesting side note, LCU's first national baseball player of the week honor at the NCAA Div. II level comes in the same week the women's basketball program received their first weekly honor at the NCAA Div. II level.  Nicole Hampton was the women's basketball recipient and her and Wilhelm are cousins.
 
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. Members receive a membership card, directory, newsletter updates and official votes in the Howser Award Player of the Year, Regional Player of the Year and NCBWA All-America voting. The NCBWA also sponsors preseason All-America awards, publication and writing contests.
 
NOWHERE TO RUN TO
The Chaparrals have not allowed a stolen base this season. Opponents are 0-for-2 in stolen base attempts. Last season, opponents were 50-for-63 (79.4%) in stolen base opportunities.
 
GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WITH TWO OUTS
LCU has a 23-4 scoring advantage against their opponents in two-out runs-batted-in. Ten different Chaps have at least one RBI in a two-out situation and Hunter McFall leads the team with six. McFall and Brent Stewart each co-lead LCU with five hits in two-out at-bats and LCU is batting .351 as a team in two-out situations.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ASU
-The Rams are coming off a 42-18 season in 2015. They went 11-10 on the road and 21-14 in Lone Star Conference play. They advanced to the Division II College World Series in Cary, North Carolina last season.
-ASU is preseason picked third in the Lone Star Conference behind West Texas A&M and Texas A&M Kingsville.
-Angelo's Paxton DeLaGarza, a .388 hitter a season ago, is the LSC Preseason Player of the Year. He is hitting .440 this season and has 11 hits (at least a hit in all six games this season). With two home runs this season, he has combined for 11 homers since the start of last season.  
-Pitcher Bryce Zak shared the LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year honor. He is 2-0 this season with 18 strikeouts in 11 innings. His prior start was a five inning outing at Southeastern Oklahoma State (Feb. 12), striking out 10 batters and allowing one run off one hit in a 10-1 win. He did overcome walking three, hitting two and throwing a trio of wild pitches in the start. Scheduled for the Friday start against LCU, Zak collected a win last season against LCU (2/15/15 going up against Blanchette) allowing a run off three hits in five innings (six strikeouts).
-ASU's pitching staff has a 2.76 ERA, with 50 strikeouts in 49 innings. They are holding opponents to a .207 average.
 
HISTORY WITH ASU
ASU has an 8-6 all-time series advantage, although LCU is 3-2 all-time in Lubbock.
 
ASU swept the four-game series last season in San Angelo, Texas.  LCU, with 74 runs through their prior six games before entering the series, were held to three runs off 15 hits in the series. ASU pitchers held LCU to only two hits in the series (on 29 opportunities) with runners on base and they were 0-for-14 in the series with runners in scoring position. The three runs in the series was the least amount of runs LCU has scored in a three-game series during head coach Nathan Blackwood's tenure at LCU (he was in his 12th season last season). The sweep marked the first time LCU had been swept in a four-game series since a series of losses to Oklahoma City in April of 2013.
 
LCU won two of three games in the series at Hays Field in 2014. ASU has won the prior four overall meetings.