STEPHENVILLE, Texas (March 18, 2017) – Jaime Bustamante went 4-for-5 with a home run and three runs-batted-in and No.16 Lubbock Christian University produced 16 hits en route to a 6-4 win over Tarleton State University to claim the rubber match of their non-conference tilt Saturday afternoon at Cecil Ballow Complex.
 
LCU opened the scoring as they had the prior two games of the series; an RBI-base hit by Ryan Rogers. The second straight contest in which it came in the first inning, and his two-out single put LCU up 1-0. Tarleton came right back with a Jake Hasbrouke double off the top of left centerfield fence in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1. The Texans took the lead in the second inning with a leadoff solo home run by Stacy Heinatz.
 
The Chaps answered with three straight runs. Chase Simmons, who joined Bustamante with a 4-for-5 performance, tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third inning with his first hit of the afternoon. They regained the lead in the fourth inning with Bustamante hitting a double to score Brent Stewart from first base and Rogers following with a sacrifice fly RBI for a 4-2 advantage.
 
Dylan Lemons cut it back to a one-run game with a an RBI-single in the fifth inning, but LCU responded in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run home run by Bustamante for a 6-3 lead.
 
TSU had a golden opportunity for a comeback bid in the eighth inning with a trio of hits to get a run across, and loading the bases trailing 6-4.  LCU's Christian Marquez, making his first relief appearance of the season, was able to strikeout Blake Adams, the Texans leader in hits, to leave the bases loaded. The Texans got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Marquez struck out Austin Call to claim the series and his first save of the season.
 
Russell Reber made the start on the mound for LCU and went 7.2 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits. He garnered the win and improved to 6-0 on the season. Colby Fowler dropped to 2-2 with the loss for the Texans, lasting three innings and allowing four runs off 10 hits.
 
LCU had 16 hits, but 14 of the hits were singles. Bustamante's double and homer were the team's only extra base hits of the game. Four Chaps had multi-hit performances, with Rogers going 2-for-4 and Logan Nethercot going 3-for-4.
 
The victory over the Texans places LCU with a 17-6 all-time record against TSU, as the programs were meeting for the first time in 20 years. LCU won two of the three games in the series to move to 6-6 all-time in Stephenville. The Chaparrals improve to 17-8 on the season and 8-5 on the road, while TSU fell to 16-8 on the season. LCU completes a 10-game road trip with Saturday's win and went 8-2 on the trip. They return home Tuesday for a 6 p.m. first pitch hosting University of the Southwest (N.M.).
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.194 | LCU was 7-for-36 (.194) in the series with runners in scoring position. Saturday, LCU was 7-for-10 with a runner at first base (only), but was 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Of LCU's seven hits in the series with runners in scoring position, three were by Ryan Rogers.
.400 | Both LCU (3/8) and TSU (3/7) combined to go 6-for-15 in the series on getting the runner at third base home when there were situations with less than two outs.
4 | LCU had not had a player with a four-hit performance this season prior to the series, but against TSU, LCU had four players with four-hit performances. Tony Reyes and Brandon Rix each had four hits Friday and Jaime Bustamante and Chase Simmons each completed the task Saturday.
5 | Ryan Rogers led LCU in the series with five RBI. He had LCU's opening RBI in all three games of the series.
5-for-9 | Each team was 5-for-9 Saturday getting the lead-off batter aboard.
7 | Jaime Bustamante led LCU in the series with seven hits and went 7-for-12 (.583) in the series with four RBI and three runs scored.
16 | The series featured 16 assists by all the combined pitchers for both teams. LCU's pitchers produced 10 assists in put-outs, with Ricky Contreras and Russell Reber each with four. In comparison, Chaps third baseman Brandon Rix (7) and second baseman Josh Narvaiz (3) each combined for 10 assists in the series.
35 | LCU stranded 35 baserunners during the series, with the game-by-game total of 10, 14 and 11.
38-24 | LCU produced 38 hits in the series, out-hitting TSU 38-24, but TSU had nine extra-base hits in the series (LCU had six).