OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN (28-20, 17-10) vs. No.13 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (35-15, 20-7)
Thursday, May 12 – 7:00 p.m.
Red Murff Field (Belton, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: All-Time Series: LCU leads 56-18
Tweet #LCUvsOC Tweet #HeartlandBASE
 
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SEEDS
1-St. Edward's
2-Lubbock Christian
3-Oklahoma Christian
4-St. Mary's
 
RANKINGS
LCU: No. 13 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper), No.19 (NCBWA), No. 19 (Perfect Game)
OC: Unranked
 
THAT FIRST TIME
No.13 Lubbock Christian University and Oklahoma Christian University are seeking to take advantage of their first time in the mix of the Heartland Conference Tournament. The two teams are both postseason eligible (conference and NCAA Div. II) for the first time since transitioning from NAIA. LCU completed the regular season 35-15 and in second place in the Heartland Conference with a mark of 20-7. The Chaparrals won every Heartland Conference series this season except their three-game set in Oklahoma City against Oklahoma Christian, who LCU opens the Heartland Conference Tournament against Thursday evening at Mary Hardin-Baylor University's Red Murff Field in Belton, Texas. St. Edward's is the tournament host, but since they do not have lights, the tournament is being played 64 miles north of their Austin, Texas based campus.
 
IN THE REGION
The NCAA released their third regional rankings of the season and LCU, who is playing in their first season postseason eligible, dropped to No.4 in the South Central Region Poll. The top six teams in the final region poll will advance to the South Central Region Tournament as part of the NCAA Championships, with hosting privileges for the No.1 ranked team.
 
1. Colorado Mesa
2. Tex. A&M-Kingsville
3. St. Edward's
4. Lubbock Christian
5. Angelo St.
6. West Tex. A&M
7. Colorado Mines
8. Cameron
 
ALL ABOARD
The Heartland Conference announced their baseball conference postseason honors and Lubbock Christian University was represented with five players receiving All-Conference honors and two players receiving Gold Glove Team accolades. Guillaume Blanchette (Pitcher of the Year) and Ricky Contreras (Freshman of the Year) received individual postseason honors and were each First Team members, joining Hunter McFall. Brandon Rix and JP Rousseau were recognized as Second Team recipients. Blanchette and Tony Reyes each made the conference's Gold Glove Team list.
 
Saint-Constant, Quebec native Blanchette was named the Heartland Pitcher of the Year after leading the conference in wins with 11 on the season (second nationally). He also leads the Heartland in strikeouts (100, 14^th nationally), innings pitched (98), complete games (8, fourth nationally) and shutouts (2). He sits second in the conference in ERA (1.56). The Chap's senior was named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week after dealing a one-hitter in a win over No. 9 Angelo State on Feb. 20. Blanchette was twice named Heartland Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 22 and April 25. Blanchette was also named to the Gold Glove Team and becomes the first Chaparral to earn Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. 
 
LCU pitcher Contreras was named the Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year after finishing third in earned run average at 1.70 (12^th nationally). The Lubbock, Texas native picked up seven wins for the Chaps and led all freshman in strikeouts (64), fewest earned runs (12) and appearances (19). Contreras also leads the conference in opponent batting average (.202). He was named the Heartland Pitcher of the Week on March 15 following an 11.2 inning, 14-strikeout week in relief. Contreras is LCU's first Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year in baseball.
 
McFall leads the team hitting .436 (20^th nationally) and producing 54 RBI (ranks 50^th nationally).  The senior infielder ranks 14^th nationally with 85 hits. He leads the team with 27 multi-hit games (13 games of at least three hits) and has 15 multi-RBI games. The San Antonio, Texas native second baseman hit .481 in conference play, getting hits in 26 of 27 games and reaching base safely in all conference games. McFall becomes a three-time All-Conference selection.
 
Rix, a Canon City, Colo. native, claimed Second Team honors. The Chaps third baseman is second on the club with a .371 batting average, which ranks ninth in the conference. He started in 49 of LCU's 50 regular season tilts and produced 67 hits. He has manufactured 21 multi-hit games this season, including a 5-for-5 performance on Mar. 19 against Eastern New Mexico.
 
Catcher Rousseau is hitting .364 on the season with 10 doubles in 32 games. The Blaineville, Quebec native is hitting .439 in conference play (18 conference games played). He hit .480 in conference games with runners in scoring position.
 
Tony Reyes was honored for his defensive work, earning a spot on the Gold Glove Team. The Levelland, Texas native leads the team with a .993 fielding percentage, with three errors on the season on a conference high 438 chances. Reyes, hitting .359 on the season, has only struck out nine times on 170 at-bats and ranks 16^th nationally striking out at a pace of every 18.9 at-bats.
 
ABOVE AVERAGE
LCU leads the Heartland Conference and ranks 14^th nationally batting .338 on the season.  The Chaps have produced at least 10 hits in 35 of 50 games played this season. Two of the top nine in batting in the Heartland Conference are members of the Chaps (Hunter McFall .436 ranks second and Brandon Rix .370 ranks ninth). LCU also leads the conference in hits (583), with a mark that ranks 15^th nationally.
 
THE HUNTER
Hunter McFall leads the team hitting .436 (20^th nationally) and producing 54 RBI.  The senior infielder ranks 14^th nationally with 85 hits. McFall led the Heartland Conference with a mark of .481 at the plate in conference games. He had a .517 on-base percentage in 27 conference games and produced 12 doubles and 25 RBI. In 108 at-bats in conference, McFall struck out five times.
 
STRIKING STAT
LCU has two batters in the top-60 nationally ranked as the hardest to strikeout. Tony Reyes, who has not struck out in his last 13 games played, ranks 16^th nationally with a strikeout every 18.9 at-bats. Hunter McFall ranks 52^nd nationally with a strikeout every 15.0 at-bats.
 
CLOSING THE BOOK ON CONFERENCE
The Chaparrals hit .341 in conference games and had a 2.95 staff ERA. Hunter McFall hit .481 in conference games and JP Rousseau is 25-of-57 (.439) in Heartland play as well. McFall (25) led the Chaps in RBI in conference play, as the Chaps had six players with at least 14 RBI in conference play (four with at least 18). Rotation pitchers Guillaume Blanchette (7-1), Russell Reber (4-1) and Ricky Contreras (5-1) combined to go 16-3 in conference games. LCU used 12 different pitchers in conference play and only three had above a 3.60 ERA.
 
NEUTRALIZING
Thursday's game will mark LCU's first neutral site game of the season. The Chaps played nine neutral site games last season and went 6-3 in those games.
 
HOMERS
Brent Stewart and Brett Wilhelm co-lead LCU in home runs with six and they are two of 13 Chaps with at least one home run this season. The 13 different Chaps with at least one home run marks the Chaps highest total of home run hitters since they had 14 players with at least one home run during the 2011 season.
 
STREAKS
Jesse Pintado has a nine-game overall hit streak, which is the active leading hit streak on the squad (Brett Wilhelm is not far behind, riding an eight-game hit streak). Jaime Bustamante has reached base safely in 15 consecutive games. Hunter McFall has reached base safely in all 29 games against a conference foe this season.
 
THAT LAST TIME?
The last time LCU played in a conference tournament game was in 2013, which was their last season postseason eligible. They competed in the Sooner Athletic Conference and won the tournament title with a 6-5 win in 10 innings at Oklahoma City University on May 4, 2013. LCU made it to the championship game in each of their last two SAC Tournament appearances. Overall, LCU's last postseason appearance was May 11, 2013, falling 8-4 to Rogers State in a NAIA National Championship Opening Round tournament contest in Claremore, Okla.  The last time LCU and OC competed in a postseason game against each other was May 9, 1996 at the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, which OC hosted and fell to the then-No.14 ranked Chaps 14-2.
 
"K" FACTOR
Chaps pitcher Guillaume Blanchette has 100 strikeouts on the season. The last LCU pitcher to strikeout at least 100 in a season was Tyler Rogers, who had 122 in 2012.
  
SERIES NOTABLES
- LCU went to Oklahoma Christian (Apr. 28-30) and fell 6-5 in the opener, won the middle game 13-3 and fell 12-11 in the rubber match. The 6-5 loss was a walk-off win for OC and the 12-11 loss was a game LCU led 10-2.
- 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.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
OC has taken two-of-three games against LCU in each of their last two regular season series. LCU won two of three games in 2014. LCU is 56-18 all-time against Oklahoma Christian in a series that dates back to 1972. LCU is 27-12 all-time against OC away from Hays Field.