WEST TEXAS A&M (3-0) at LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (3-0)
Tuesday, February 9 - 4:00 PM                                                      
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm                                                                     
All-Time Series: LCU leads 37-17
Tweet #LCUvsWT
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
LCU – Albert Aveytia (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
WTAMU – Joshua Payne (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
 
Lubbock Christian University plays their first midweek game of the 2016 season Tuesday hosting West Texas A&M University. Both teams went 3-0 in their season-opening weekend.
 
ANOTHER SWEEPING START
LCU is coming off a three-game series sweep of Adams State University. LCU has opened at home hosting ASU now three consecutive seasons and it is the second straight series LCU has swept the Grizzlies. LCU has started three of their prior four seasons with a 3-0 record.
 
BIG AL'S DEBUT
Albert Averytia makes his LCU debut on the bump Tuesday. He is LCU's only newcomer transferring in from a Division I program, as he made 13 starts last season at Prairie View A&M.
 
ERROR FREE
LCU's priority this season is to strengthen their defense and so far so good.  The Chaps have been error free through their first three games. If LCU can go a fourth consecutive game without an error it would be the first four-game streak of error-free baseball since the final game of 2010 (vs. Belhaven at NAIA World Series) and the first three games of the 2011 season (series against Bellevue). The last time LCU had a four-game streak of no errors in a single season was Feb. 7 – 14, 2009 in contests against UT-Brownsville and Texas Wesleyan.  Last season, LCU committed 89 errors (1.9 per game) and went from 62 unearned runs allowed in 2014 to allowing 78 unearned runs last season (1.6 unearned runs allowed per game).  
 
NINER
LCU produced nine doubles Saturday in their win over Adams State, which was the most in a single game since Mar. 23, 1986 against Nebraska-Kearney.
 
WINS FROM THE 'PEN
All three of LCU's wins have been credited to relief pitchers. Glenn Warrick, Ricky Contreras and Brent Bezio each have a win for the Chaps. The trio have combined for to allow two runs off seven hits in 10.2 innings, with 10 strikeouts thrown.
 
GIVE IT A 10
The Chaps pitching staff has produced 10 strikeouts in the prior two games. The last time they had accomplished that feat (10 or more strikeouts in consecutive games) was in a doubleheader on Feb.24, 2012 against Oklahoma Christian.
 
IN THE HUNT
Hunter McFall helped LCU go 3-0 in a series sweep of Adams State with a 5-for-10 (.500) performance from the plate in the series. He had a pair of two-hit multi-hit performances and had at least a hit in all three games. He combined for six runs, eight RBI, nine total bases. Of his five hits, two (home run and double) were for extra bases. He went 2-for-4 with a career-matching five RBI in the third game of the series.  All five RBI were in the first two innings.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WTAMU
-The Buffs are coming off a 36-20 season in 2015. They went 17-11 on the road and 23-12 in Lone Star Conference play.
-WT is the Lone Star Conference preseason favorites after sharing the regular season conference title last season.
-Brooks Trujillo is the Co-LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
-Joshua Payne is slated to make his WT debut. The 6-6 righty went 5-1 with a 3.72 ERA last season at Trinidad State.
-The Buffaloes went 3-0 on their opening weekend with wins over Colorado School of Mines, No.11 St. Edward's and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
 
HISTORY WITH WTAMU
The two teams had an interesting home-and-home series last season, which saw the Buffs prevail in each game. The prior meeting was on Apr. 14 last season in Canyon, Texas, with WT coming back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat the Chaps 6-5. The last meeting in Lubbock was on Apr. 7 of last season, with a combined 41 runs scored. LCU fell 21-17 in a four-hour marathon. Josh Day produced a WT program record matching eight RBI, with six coming off a pair of three-run home runs. All-Time, LCU has won nine of the last 12 meetings and leads the all-time series 37-17 (dating back to 1971). LCU is 23-11 all-time at Hays Field against WT.