ST. MARY'S (12-12, 6-1) at No.16 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (19-8, 3-1)
Saturday, March 25, 2017 – 1:00 PM | 3:00 PM (DH)
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV AM 950 / 100.7 FM
All-Time Series: LCU leads 13-12
Tweet #LCUvsStMU | Tweet #HeartlandBase
 
With the windy weather conditions Friday, No.16 Lubbock Christian University and St. Mary's University agreed to play the opening game of their Heartland Conference Friday and scheduled their doubleheader Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. and the Chaps take a three-game win streak into the contest. LCU has also won their last four home games and are 7-3 at home this season. StMU and LCU are two of three teams with one conference loss on the season.   
 
RANKINGS (as of 3/20/17)
LCU: No. 16 (Perfect Game), No. 23 (d2baseballnews.com), No.25 (NCBWA)
StMU: Unranked
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS

Game 1
LCU – Daniel Crooks (3-0, 4.19 ERA)
Crooks will make his eighth appearance and seventh start of the season. He is coming off a seven-inning start at Tarleton State in which he allowed one run off two hits. On Mar. 5, he faced StMU and went three innings allowing three runs off two hits (two runs earned). Opponents are hitting .211 against him this season. 
 
StMU – Chris Jones (2-1, 3.45 ERA)
The left-handed pitcher is scheduled for his seventh start of the season. He is coming off a win against Oklahoma Christian last weekend, going eight innings and allowing three runs (one earned) off nine hits. He faced LCU on Mar. 3 and went 5.1 innings of shutout play allowing four hits.  

Game 2
LCU – Russell Reber (6-0, 3.23 ERA)
Reber is to make his eighth start of the season. At Tarleton State, he went 7.2 innings and allowed four runs off four hits. Reber, who averages over seven innings an appearance, has wins in his last four starts. 
 
StMU – Hayden Hibler (2-1, 2.63 ERA)
Hibler, the team's ERA leader, is scheduled for his ninth appearance and fourth start of the season. He received the win in his last start, which was a five-inning outing against Oklahoma Christian. Hibler did not allow a run off seven hits. He has not allowed more than two runs in any of his eight appearances this season.
 
LOOKING BACK
Chase Simmons went 3-for-4 with a double and home run and Ricky Contreras allowed three hits in a complete game effort, as No.16 Lubbock Christian University cruised to a 11-1 win over St. Mary's University in a run-rule seventh inning final Friday in Heartland Conference play at Hays Field.
 
STREAKS
Ryan Rogers is the second player to have at least a 10-game hit streak, and his active hit streak of 11 games leads the squad. Brandon Rix, who has an active nine-game hit streak, leads the team with an active streak of reaching base safely at 20 games.  Rogers has reached safely in his last 14 games. 
  
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH ST.MARY'S
2 | LCU had been 0-for-9 against StMU with the bases loaded, but Friday they went 2-for-5 with the bases loaded, as Brandon Urquizo and Jaime Bustamante each a bases loaded hit.
.165 | LCU's pitchers have held StMU to a .165 batting average in the series.
.533 | Chase Simmons leads LCU in their season series against StMU, combining to go 8-for-15 at the plate. He was 3-for-4 Friday with a double and home run.
.429 | Jack Kaiser leads StMU in the season series going 6-for-14.
9 | The Chaparrals went 9-for-17 with runners in scoring position Friday, with nine of their team's 14 hits coming with runners in scoring position.
19-3 | LCU has a 59-19 advantage in at-bats with runners in scoring position, and it has led to a 19-3 hit advantage with runners in scoring position in the head-to-head series this season.
 
HISTORY WITH ST.MARY'S
LCU and St. Mary's have met 25 prior times dating back to 1978 and LCU leads the all-time series at 13-12. LCU leads this season's series 4-0. Prior to 2014, the two teams had not met since Feb. 5, 2000. LCU is 7-4 all-time against StMU at Hays Field. LCU went 2-2 against StMU last season, winning two of three games of a Heartland Conference series in Lubbock. St. Mary's defeated LCU at the Heartland Conference Tournament last season.