OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (April 30, 2016) – One could simply say Lubbock Christian University beat themselves Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma Christian University's Dobson Field. The No.7 Chaparrals let a 10-2 lead go to the wayside, allowing Oklahoma Christian University to rally to a 12-11 win to claim the rubber match of their Heartland Conference series.
 
LCU out-hit OC 18-9, producing 12 hits with two-outs for eight two-out RBI. The Chaps hit five doubles, including a three-run bases loaded double by Ryan Rogers in the fifth inning to put the Chaps lead at 10-2. They also hit a pair of home runs, with Brandon Rix hitting his first of the season (in the fourth inning) and Hunter McFall clocking his fifth of the season in the seventh inning.
 
The ugly side is how LCU surrendered the lead. The Chaps committed five errors (four after the fifth inning), walked three batters and hit six batters, to give OC 14 free base runners. The six batters were all by starting pitcher Russell Reber, who set a program single-game record and hit a mark that tied as the second most in Heartland Conference history. As a team, the six batters hit ranked tied for the fifth most in Heartland Conference history.
 
Reber had only allowed two hits through the first four innings, but things fell apart in the bottom of the fifth inning after he hit consecutive batters with one out. OC hit two doubles and a pair of singles, with Kyle Lacy and Austin Orth's singles each scoring a pair and capping a five-run inning to cut LCU's lead to 10-7.
 
The Chaps had 17 hits through the first five innings, but only one in the final four innings (McFall's solo homer in the seventh inning). Meanwhile, OC took advantage of LCU's  misfortunes. Christian Buatte pitched the sixth inning for LCU and walked two batters in the inning, with the second coming in a bases loaded situation following an error on a sacrifice bunt. The error was one of two in the inning. OC sent eight batters to the plate and scored two runs (both unearned) in the sixth inning, while only producing one hit in the inning (single).  The Eagles were held to three hits over the final three innings (of at-bats) and to two hits that were run-producers (OC scored five runs over those three innings). A walk followed by another error on a sacrifice bunt set up a two-run double by Derek Jones in the seventh inning, and an RBI-single with two outs in the eighth inning by Jared Sterling proved to be the difference maker. Each hit followed errors. With two outs in the eighth inning, Brady Baugh reached on an error by third baseman Brandon Rix. Rix's throw to first base was offline and allowed Baugh to advance all the way to third base. Instead of the third out, the extra at-bat allowed Sterling to hit a duck snort beyond the reach of shortstop Jaime Bustamante. It gave the Eagles their first lead of the game at 12-11.
 
LCU had the early advantage with a four-run first inning, as LCU went from two outs and no runners on base to five straight hits. Brent Stewart, Tony Reyes and Bustamante each had a double in the inning for the 4-0 lead. OC starting pitcher Bradley Horn only last 1.1 innings, as he was replaced after giving up his sixth hit of the game. LCU scored three runs in the fourth inning off five hits. Rix drove in two with his home run and Bustamante capped the inning with a RBI off an infield single.
 
Six Chaps had multi-hit a performances, with Rix (3-for-6), McFall (3-for-5) and Rogers (3-for-4) each producing three-hit games (career best for Rogers). Rogers led all Chaps with three RBI. Jones led OC going 3-for-4 at the plate and Jake Baxter supplied the Eagles with a trio of runs driven in.
 
Colin Fraley had the best pitching line in relief, but suffered the loss (1-2) for LCU. He pitched the last two innings and allowed one hit to eight batters faced (struck out two batters). Jake Moore, OC's fifth pitcher used, picked up the win. He did not allow a hit over the final two innings and improved to 5-1 with the win.
 
The loss put LCU to 32-15 overall and 17-7 in the conference. It marks as the first Heartland Conference series they had lost on the season. The loss was LCU's first when leading after the sixth inning (27-1). OC improved to 27-18 overall and 16-8 in conference. LCU closes the season 10-10 on the road this season and they return home for their final three regular season games, which begins Friday at Hays Field against Texas-Permian Basin.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- OC scored 21 runs in the series, with 10 runs unearned (LCU only had two of their 29 runs in the series unearned). LCU committed 10 errors in the series. The Chaps used six pitchers in the series and only one allowed more than two earned runs.
- LCU had a 4.37 ERA in the series, compared to 10.12 ERA by OC.
- The Chaps hit .398 in the series, with a 45-21 hit advantage over OC, who hit .244 in the series.
- LCU out-hit OC 20-4 in the series with two outs, leading to a 11-3 advantage in two-out RBI.    
- Tony Reyes hit .600 in the series (6-for-10) and Hunter McFall hit .583, leading LCU with seven hits in the series.
- OC did have a solid advantage in scoring runners from third with less than two outs at a conversion rate of 64.7% (11-of-17), while LCU was 42.9% (3-of-7) in completing the task.
- Of OC's 21 hits in the series, 11 were for doubles.