No.24 ST. EDWARD'S (21-12, 8-4) at No.13 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (24-9, 7-2)
Thursday, April 6, 2017 – 4 p.m. / 6 p.m. (DH)
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: KJTV am950/100.7fm
All-Time Series: LCU leads 16-8
Tweet #LCUvsSEU | Tweet #HeartlandBASE
 
No.13 Lubbock Christian University continues a four-game homestand and rides a six-game home win streak into a three-game Heartland Conference series hosting No.24 St. Edward's University for a Thursday-Friday series. LCU heads into the series atop the conference standings with a mark of 7-2 in conference play. St. Edward's enters the series tied for second in the conference with an 8-4 record in conference action.  The two teams are the only two teams nationally ranked in the Heartland Conference. LCU is ranked in all four national polls, with Perfect Game ranking LCU No. 13. SEU is only ranked in the top-25 by NCBWA, appearing at No. 24.
 
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
 
Game 1
 
LCU – Ricky Contreras (5-0, 2.51 ERA)
Ricky is scheduled for his 10th start of the season and heads into the start with wins in his last five starts. He has gone the distance in three of his last four starts. Friday at Texas A&M International, he went four innings and did not allow a run on two hits. Ricky faced SEU as a freshman last season (Apr. 2) and allowed two runs off three hits in six innings of a 5-3 LCU win in Austin.
 
SEU – Brandon Boone (5-1, 1.76 ERA)
Boone is set for his ninth start of the season. The West Virginia transfer lasted only five batters in his last start (Mar. 31) against Oklahoma Christian, as he went 0.1 innings and allowed two unearned runs and walked two batters.   
 
Game 2
 
LCU – Daniel Crooks (3-1, 3.80 ERA)
Daniel is on deck for his 10th appearance and ninth start of the season. Crooks has 50 strikeouts (leads team) in 45 innings on the hill this season. He is without a decision in his last four appearances and is coming off allowing one run off seven hits in six innings of a 6-4 win at Texas A&M International. Crooks has not allowed more than two earned runs in his prior seven appearances.
 
SEU – Stuart Springer (6-0, 2.40 ERA)
Like Boone, Springer is scheduled for his ninth start of the season. Springer, 44 strikeouts and seven walks in 48.2 innings, leads the team in complete games (2) and is coming off of one against Oklahoma Christian in which he allowed two runs off six hits in eight innings to claim the win. Springer went 1-1 last season against LCU and had a 2.08 ERA. In 13 combined innings, he allowed nine runs (three earned) off 13 hits while striking out 14 batters. LCU hit .236 against him.
 
RANKINGS (as of 4/4/17)
LCU: No. 13 (Perfect Game), No.17 (NCBWA), No. 20 (d2baseballnews.com), No.21 (Collegiate Baseball News)
SEU: No. 24 (NCBWA)
 
LOOKING BACK
Brent Bezio allowed one run in 7.1 innings and a two-out pinch hit RBI-single by Brenon Rhodes helped No.14 Lubbock Christian University defeat West Texas A&M University 2-1 Tuesday night at a gusty Hays Field to complete a sweep of their home-and-home regular season series.
 
STREAKS
A lot of streaks came to an end in Laredo, as LCU hit .255 in their series against Texas A&M International. Ryan Rogers had his career high win streak end at 13 games and his streak of 17 consecutive games reaching base safely end Friday. Brandon Rix (12 games), Tony Reyes (10 games) and Jaime Bustamante (9 games) also witnessed their hit streaks come to an end. The active hit streak leaders on the squad are Caleb Koedyker and Josh Narvaiz, who are each on a six-game hit streak. One long streak that survived Laredo was Brandon Rix's active streak of reaching base safely, which leads the team at 26 games heading into Thursday.
 
SAC-IT TO ME
LCU leads the Heartland Conference and ranks 12th nationally in sacrifice flies with 19 on the season. Ten different Chaps have at least one sac-fly on the season, with Jaime Bustamante leading the team with four (30th nationally).
 
TRIPLES
The Chaps rank second in the nation with 17 triples on the season (one behind Arkansas - Fort Smith). Nine different Chaps have produced a triple this season, and Caleb Koedyker, Jaime Bustamante and Josh Narvaiz co-lead the team with three each (each rank tied for 53rd nationally).
 
CONFERENCE TRENDS
The Chaps are hitting .320 in Heartland Conference play, where they are 7-2 on the season and 3-0 at home. Ryan Rogers is hitting .394 in conference play, going 13-for-33 at the plate with four doubles and 10 RBI. Brandon Urquizo leads LCU in conference action with 11 RBI. LCU has been limited to three home runs in conference play, but they have 25 doubles and four triples produced. The pitching staff has a 3.80 ERA, with Daniel Crooks leading the squad with a 2.53 ERA in conference. Ricky Contreras is 3-0 in conference starts.
 
HOME TRENDS
LCU is 10-3 at home and riding a six-game home win streak. The Chaps are hitting .358 as a team, with Ryan Rogers hitting a rate of .488 at Hays Field. Rogers has seven doubles and 20 RBI in home contests this season. Tony Reyes (.426) and Jaime Bustamante (.408) are also hitting over .400 at home. The staff has a 3.43 ERA at home with 78 strikeouts and 46 walks in 105 innings. Brent Bezio has a 0.46 ERA at home and has allowed one run in 19.2 innings. Russell Reber is 3-0 at home in three home starts.
 
CHAPS BY THE NUMBERS
0 | LCU pitchers have not allowed a home run at home this season.
.400 | In the last 10 games, Tony Reyes (.465), Chase Simmons (.455) and Josh Narvaiz (.400) are each batting .400 or better.
7 | With seven victories (7-0), Russell Reber ranks tied for ninth nationally and is two wins behind the national leader.
11 | Despite hitting .222 in his last eight games, Brandon Urquizo has a whopping 11 RBI in the span.
38 | Jaime Bustamante leads the Heartland Conference in runs (38) and runs per game (1.2).
 
FIVE THINGS ABOUT SEU
- SEU, coming off a 46-12 record last season (23-4 in conference), is 21-12 this season and 8-4 in conference play. They are 6-5 on the road this season.
- The Hilltoppers are preseason picked first in the Heartland Conference. With their 8-4 current conference mark, they are sitting tied for second place with Arkansas - Fort Smith.
- Gable Whitacre was named South Central Region Hitter of the Week Wednesday by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) for the second time this season. Whitacre went 7-for-13 with six runs and 12 RBI on two doubles, one triple and three home runs. He recorded an on-base percentage of .538, while slugging 1.538.
- Whitacre ranks 10th nationally in RBI (45), 11th in total bases (98), 12th in slugging (.831) and 19th in home runs (11).
- SEU's staff ERA is 2.69, which ranks sixth nationally. They also rank fifth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.1) and eighth in WHIP (1.17).
 
HISTORY WITH SEU
LCU leads the all-time series with an advantage of 16-8 dating back to 1986. The Chaps are 6-3 all-time at Hays Field against the 'Toppers. The two teams split last season's series, with LCU winning two of three games in Austin in their regular season series before SEU eliminated the Chaps with a win at the NCAA South Central Region Tournament in Grand Junction, Colo. SEU swept LCU in their last three game series at Hays Field (2016 season).