No.6 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (32-10, 15-3) at ARKANSAS FORT SMITH (26-16, 13-5)
Thursday, April 27, 2017 – 1 p.m. / 3 p.m. (DH)
Crowder Field (Fort Smith, Ark.)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: LCU leads 5-2
 
No.6 Lubbock Christian University makes their second ever trip to Fort Smith, Ark. for a three-game Heartland Conference series with Arkansas Fort Smith, who is tied for second place in the conference with St. Mary's. LCU leads the conference with a 15-3 record and are 2.0 games ahead of UAFS and StMU, who are each 13-5 in conference play. The series was originally scheduled for a Friday/Saturday series, but due to rain in the forecast, the two teams moved their series up to a Thursday/Friday series.  LCU has only made one other trip to Fort Smith and it was during the 2015 season. The opening game was played in snowy conditions, and the 8-4 UAFS win would turn out to be the lone game played in the series.
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
 
Game 1
 
LCU – Ricky Contreras (8-0, 2.21 ERA)
Ricky is scheduled for his 13th start of the season and heads into the start with wins in his last eight starts. He has gone the distance in five of his last seven starts. Last Friday against Newman, he went seven shutout innings and allowed two hits, for his second consecutive complete game shutout. He has 14 straight shutout innings entering Thursday's start. Ricky faced UAFS twice as a freshman last season (Mar. 24 and 25) and combined to allow one run off five hits in 3.1 innings and went 1-0. Both appearance were relief outings
 
UAFS – Hayden Harvey (6-4, 3.48 ERA)
Hayden is scheduled for his 13^th start of the season and is coming off a pair of complete game outings. At Oklahoma Christian, he went seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits in a 4-0 win. He is 4-1 in his last five starts and has thrown at least 85 pitches in each of the appearances.   Harvey made one relief appearance last season against LCU and went five innings allowing two runs off five hits. He struck out seven during the outing.
 
Game 2
 
LCU – Daniel Crooks (6-1, 3.25 ERA)
Daniel is on deck for his 13th appearance and 12th start of the season. Crooks has 71 strikeouts (leads team) in 63.2 innings on the hill this season. He has claimed the win in his prior three starts, including a seven-inning appearance on Apr. 21 against Newman, in which he allowed no run off four hits. He has not allowed more than five hits in his last three starts.
 
UAFS – Evan Dodd (4-2, 4.23 ERA)
The left-handed pitcher is one of three Lions pitchers with at least 50 strikeouts on the season. He went 4.0 innings in his last outing (at Oklahoma Christian) and allowed three runs off six hits. Dodd is 1-0 in his last five combined starts. Last season, Dodd had two relief appearances against LCU and allowed one run off two hits in 2.2 innings.
 
 
RANKINGS (as of 4/27/17)
LCU: No.6 (NCBWA), No. 7 (Perfect Game), No.14 (Collegiate Baseball News), No. 16 (d2baseballnews.com)
UAFS: N/A
 
IN THE REGION
The NCAA released their first regional rankings of the season and LCU, who is playing in their second season postseason eligible, made their debut at No.3 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. Angelo St.
2. Colorado Mesa       
3. Lubbock Christian  
4. West Tex. A&M      
5. Tex. A&M-Kingsville           
6. Tarleton St. 
7. Ark.-Fort Smith       
    St. Edward's          
 
LOOKING BACK
LCU used some small-ball to rally with four unanswered runs to complete a three-game Heartland Conference sweep with a 4-2 win over Newman University Saturday afternoon at Hays Field. The win places LCU with a six-game win streak.
 
CLEBURNE IS THE PLACE
Heartland Conference Commissioner Tony Stigliano announced that the conference will host the 2017 Heartland Baseball Championship Tournament in Cleburne, Texas at The Depot at Cleburne Station, the brand new home of the Cleburne Railroaders. It is the first time in conference history that the conference tournament will be held at a neutral site location. No.6 Lubbock Christian University is the first team to clinch a tournament berth, as they can finish no worse than fourth place in the conference.
 
The agreement comes just as construction on The Depot at Cleburne Station is wrapping up. The Railroaders will open their new stadium to the public on May 4, 2017, followed by a pair of exhibition games the week before the conference tournament. The stadium provides 1,750 permanent seats and offers grass berm seating along both the first and third base lines as well as outfield seating. The Depot also features several luxury suites, a club-level and a kids play zone in right field.
 
The championship tournament will feature the top four teams in the conference from the regular season in a double-elimination tournament. Games will begin on May 11 with the championship game(s) on Saturday, May 13.
 
With LCU's sweep of Newman at Hays Field, the Chaps have a 15-3 conference record (32-10 overall). There are six games remaining and if LCU was to lose all six games, it would place them at 15-9 and nine conference losses. St. Edwards (11-10) and Oklahoma Christian (11-10) are each tied for fifth place and each have three games remaining. The best they could finish is 14-10.  LCU still has work to do to clinch the top seed for the tournament, which is credited to the regular season conference champion.
 
STREAKS
For a second time this season, Tony Reyes leads the team in active hit streaks. Reyes, who had a Chap season high 18-game hit streak earlier this season, has hits in 10 straight games. He has also reached base safely in 21 consecutive games (season high for Reyes). Ryan Rogers has reached base in 11 straight games.
 
TRIPLES
The Chaps had a triple in their series against Newman and rank second in the nation with 23 triples on the season. Nine different Chaps have produced a triple this season, and Caleb Koedyker leads the team with five triples (tied for 13th nationally).
 
BREAKING IT DOWN
LCU is currently on a six-game win streak. Here are some wild numbers included in the win streak:
- LCU is hitting .351 in the streak (Brent Stewart leading the team batting .474).
- LCU has a 19-4 advantage in extra-base hits (14 doubles)
- Surprisingly, LCU has not turned a double play during the streak.
- Ten LCU pitchers have pitched during the streak and only two have allowed an earned run and no pitcher has allowed more than one earned run, as LCU has a 0.36 ERA in the span. 
 
WEEKLY HONORS
Chaps outfielder Brent Stewart and pitcher Ricky Contreras swept the weekly Heartland Conference Baseball Player of the Week awards, picking up hitter and pitcher of the week honors for games played from April 17 - April 23.
 
Contreras set the tone of a three-game series sweep over Newman with a complete-game two-hit shutout in the opener. The Lubbock, Texas native has not allowed a run in his last 14 innings pitched and has allowed just seven hits in the span. Friday, Contreras did not allow a hit to the final 15 batters he faced. He had a first-pitch-strike to nine of the first 11 batters he faced and did not have a third-ball in a count against a batter until the 13th batter he faced in the game. Of the 12 outs recorded of balls put into play, Contreras was able to force 11 ground outs. Contreras also struck out nine batters and improved to 8-0 with his fifth complete game and second complete game shutout (both in consecutive starts). This is Contreras' first pitcher of the week honor this season and the second of his career (Mar. 15, 2016 was his first).
 
Stewart helped LCU to a perfect 3-0 week and a series sweep of Newman at Hays Field going 7-for-9 (.778) in the series with a 1.333 slugging mark and .800 on-base percentage. He had multi-hit performances in all three games and had two extra-base hits (triple and home run) in the series. All three of his RBI were two-out RBI, as he was 3-for-5 in two-out at-bats. The Midland, Texas native was also 4-for-4 in at-bats with the bases empty and 2-for-2 in a leadoff at-bat. This is Stewart's first hitter of the week honor this season.
 
CONFERENCE TRENDS
The Chaps are hitting .346 in Heartland Conference play, where they are 15-3 on the season and 7-2 on the road. Ryan Rogers is hitting .409 in conference play, going with six doubles and 16 RBI. Brandon Urquizo leads LCU in conference action with 17 RBI. LCU has 43 doubles and 10 triples produced (61-37 advantage for LCU in extra base hits in conference play). The pitching staff has a 3.79 ERA, with Ricky Contreras leading the squad with a 2.13 ERA in conference. Contreras is also 6-0 in conference starts.
 
CHAPS BY THE NUMBERS
.320 | The Chaps lead the Heartland Conference (35th nationally) in batting with a .320 batting average.
5 | Ricky Contreras lead the conference and ranks tied for 15th nationally in complete games with five.
7 | LCU co-leads the Heartland Conference and ranks tied for fifth nationally in shutouts with seven.
65 | Tony Reyes leads the Heartland Conference and ranks 50th nationally in hits with 65.
470 | With 470 hits this season, LCU leads the conference and ranks 28th nationally in the category.
 
FIVE THINGS ABOUT UAFS
- The Lions are coming off a 24-21 season in 2016. This season, they 26-16 overall and 19-3 at home.
- UAFS was preseason picked fifth in the Heartland Conference Preseason Poll.
- The Lions lead the conference and rank 12th nationally in sacrifice bunts with 45 on the season.
- Clayton Whelchel leads the conference and ranks 47th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings with 10.7.
- Dion Williams ranks fourth nationally with a conference leading eight triples on the season. As a team, UAFS is second behind LCU with 20 triples on the season.
 
HISTORY WITH UAFS
LCU has a 5-2 all-time series lead over UAFS. The Chaps won two of three games in last season's three-game series in Lubbock. Due to snow, the two teams only squeezed in one game of a scheduled three game series in Fort Smith in 2015. LCU is 0-5 all-time on Arkansas soil, as they are 0-1 against UAFS and 0-4 against the University of Arkansas in games played in The Natural State.