No.19 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (13-6) at OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN (11-8)
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Game 1: 4:00 PM / Game 2: 6:00 PM                                                     
Dobson Stadium (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: LCU leads 56-19
Tweet #LCUvsOC | Tweet #HeartlandBASE
 
IN THE BOX
Lubbock Christian University heads into their Heartland Conference opener Thursday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Oklahoma Christian. The series was originally scheduled to begin Friday, but with thunderstorms entering the forecast Friday night, the two teams agreed to bump the series up to begin Thursday with a doubleheader. The series will close Friday at 1 p.m. with a single game. LCU enters the series with a 13-6 overall record and on a five-game win streak. LCU is 4-3 with a four-game road win streak. The Chaparrals were 7-5 in conference road play last season. 
 
RANKINGS (as of 3/8/17)
LCU: No. 19 (Perfect Game), No. 23 (d2baseballnews.com), No.30 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper),
OC: Unranked
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
 
GAME 1
LCU – Ricky Contreras (1-0, 1.95 ERA)
Contreras has made five starts this season and is coming off his first win of the season. He averages over six innings a start, but every game he has started has been decided late and by one run. He is coming off a 3-2 win at St. Mary's last Friday in which he went eight innings and allowed one run (unearned) off four hits in eight innings. Opponents are hitting .235 off of him this season. Contreras has never faced OC.
 
OC – Dalton Rentz (4-0, 3.41 ERA)
The Eagles ace has collected wins in four of his five starts this season and leads the team with 35 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched. He receives run support when he pitches, as the Eagles are averaging 9.0 runs per game when he starts. Rentz is the reigning Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week and has not allowed an earned run in his last two starts (covering 13 innings). The Auburn transfer has never faced the Chaps.
 
GAME 2
LCU – Christian Marquez (2-2, 7.00 ERA)
Marquez has made four starts this season and has dropped his last two. He last pitched on Feb. 25 against Colorado State – Pueblo, allowing eight runs in two innings. Away from home, he is 1-1 with two earned runs allowed in 10 innings pitched with nine strikeouts.
 
OC – Mason McAlister (1-2, 6.97 ERA)
McAlister is scheduled for his sixth appearance and start of the season for OC. He is coming off his first win of the season, pitching five scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts last weekend aver Calumet St. Joseph. OC won the game 20-0.
 
LOOKING BACK
LCU received at least one RBI from eight different Chaparrals and they completed a three-game series sweep on the road over St. Mary's with an 11-4 victory Sunday afternoon at Dickson Stadium. The completion of the non-conference series has LCU with a five-game win streak.
 
STREAKS
Tony Reyes leads the team with a 17-game hit streak. Reyes also leads the team with an active streak of 17 consecutive games reaching base. Chase Simmons is not far behind, reaching base successfully in 14 consecutive games. Jaime Bustamante, who opened the season with an eight-game hit streak, has hit successfully in his last seven games. Reyes' 17-game hit streak is the longest since Hunter McFall produced a 23-game hit streak last season.
 
SAC-IT TO ME
LCU leads the Heartland Conference and ranks 21^st nationally in sacrifice flies with 10 on the season. Seven different Chaps have at least one sac-fly on the season, with Bustamante, Logan Nethercot and Brandon Rix each with two.
 
TRIPLES
The Chaps lead the nation this season in triples, with 13 on the season. Eight different Chaps have produced a triple this season and Josh Narvaiz ranks eighth nationally with three produced.
 
CONFERENCE OPENERS
The Chaps are 11-2 all-time under head coach Nathan Blackwood in conference openers and 1-2 all-time in Heartland Conference openers. LCU has lost their last two season openers, falling in 2015 at Arkansas Fort Smith and suffering a bottom of the seventh 4-3 walk-off loss last season at Newman.
 
CHAPS BY THE NUMBERS
0.4 | Ryan Rogers leads the Heartland Conference with a rate of 0.4 doubles per game.
2 | Russell Reber coleads the Heartland Conference with two complete games, ranking ninth nationally.
4 | Nick Hooper ranks eighth nationally in saves with a conference leading four on the season.
11 | Reagan Lucia has made 11 appearances on the mound this season, which ranks second nationally behind Beau Blair of Valdosta State, who has appeared in 12 games this season.
15 | Logan Nethercot leads the Heartland and ranks 19^th nationally with 15 walks.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OC
-The Eagles finished last season 30-22, with a 17-10 conference mark and a 9-9 home mark. This season, OC is off to an 11-8 start and are 7-5 at home.
-The Heartland Conference has OC preseason picked to finish fourth in the conference.
- OC leads the conference in walks (84) and ranks 22^nd nationally, while also ranking 15^th nationally in hit-by-pitch (28).
-The Eagles is hitting .296 as a team, with Lane Paul leading the team batting .413 with 19 hits (15 singles). Their staff ERA is 4.60.
-Isaac Holt leads the nation with 10 sac bunts.
 
HISTORY WITH OC
OC took two of three games the last two season in their series, including last season in Oklahoma City. Overall last season, OC won three of four meetings, as OC also defeated LCU at the Heartland Conference Tournament. LCU is 56-19 all-time against Oklahoma Christian in a series that dates back to 1972. LCU is 27-13 all-time against OC away from Hays Field.