No.10 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (8-4)
at ADAMS STATE (0-11)
Friday, Mar. 2, 2018 – 3 p.m. (Central)
ASU Baseball Field (Alamosa, Colo.)
Online Audio: None
Radio: None
All-Time Series: LCU leads 15-5
Tweet #LCUvsASU
 
No.10 Lubbock Christian University remains on the road and in Alamosa, Colo. for their second game of a scheduled three-game series at Adams State. Each team is streaking but in different directions, as LCU is riding a seven-game win streak, while ASU is winless in 11 games this season.
 
RANKINGS 
LCU: No.10 (Perfect Game), No.32 (Collegiate Baseball News)
ADAMS: N/A
 
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHER
 
LCU – Ryan Johnson (1-1, 0.82 ERA)
The southpaw from Winnipeg, Manitoba is scheduled for his fourth start of the season. He is the reigning Heartland Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week after going seven innings for a complete game shutout one-hitter against Metro State. He was two outs shy of a no-hitter. Johnson is holding opponents to a .113 batting average.
 
ADAMS – Daniel Brennan (0-2, 9.28 ERA)
The 6'5" right-hander is scheduled for his fourth outing on the hill this season. The Grizzlies have not scored any runs over his prior two appearances. On Feb. 25, he went 4.1 innings and allowed four runs off four hits in a 4-0 loss. He has 13 strikeouts in 10.2 innings and has allowed a .271 batting average from the opposition.
 
LOOKING BACK
It was a timely homecoming for Colorado natives Logan Nethercot and Will Clark, as the Centennial State natives had two of No.10 Lubbock Christian University's three runs-batted-in and led the Chaparrals to a 3-2 win over Adams State University in their first road game of the season.
 
Nethercot, a native of Cañon City, Colo., led off the game in the top of the first inning with a home run for his second dinger of the season. It marked LCU's first top-of-the-first-inning leadoff home run since Christian Vazquez hit a leadoff home run on May 4, 2013 at Oklahoma City (Vazquez did it twice in 2013).
 
The home run by Nethercot did not set the tone for a high scoring game. The score remained 1-0 until Erik Hildebrandt with a two-out RBI hit to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning. LCU's "division one" transfers Andrew Pratt and Scotland Church each singled in the fifth inning and Church scored on a Ryan Rogers groundout RBI to regain the Chaps lead. The lead would not hold in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Orlando Romer tying the game back up (2-2) with a two-out single.
 
James Hardberger and Rogers each singled in the eighth inning, setting up an RBI single from Steamboat Springs, Colo. native Will Clark to give LCU a 3-2 lead. The Grizzlies were able to get the tying run aboard in the ninth inning, but LCU's Nick Hooper produced a strikeout followed by a double play to claim his fourth save of the season.
  
STREAKS
With his leadoff home run Thursday, Logan Nethercot has reached base safely in all 12 games this season. Braden Hayward is the team active hit-streak leader, with hits in six consecutive games. He is 9-for-21 (.429) with a trio of homers over the span.
 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
LCU went 2-2 in Pueblo, Colo. during the 2016 season, marking LCU's only prior games played in Colorado heading into their Adams State series. The Chaps have three players from the Rocky Mountain State, matching New Mexico as the state outside of Texas, which has produced the most players on the 2018 Chaps roster. Will Clark (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Logan Nethercot (Cañon City, Colo.) and Dillon Drury (Colorado City, Colo.) all call Colorado home.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH ADAMS STATE
2 | Four Grizzlies had two-hit performances Thursday, with Ryan Hildebrandt and Orlando Romero each driving in a run with their two hits.
2 | ASU has scored each of their runs in two-out situations, with Romera going 2-for-4 in two-out at-bats.
4 | Each team hit into two double plays Thursday, combining for four on the day.
5 | Andres Negron had a season high five assists Thursday at shortstop.
8 | Eight different Chaps had at least one hit Thursday, as Nethercot had LCU's lone multi-hit performance with two hits.
 
HISTORY WITH ADAMS
LCU leads the all-time series with a 15-5 mark (2-1 away from Hays Field and 1-0 in Alamosa, Colo.) and the series dates back to 1974. The teams are meeting for a fifth consecutive season, but for the first time during the sequence in which the games are not opening LCU's home schedule. In 2014, the two teams agreed to a tripleheader, marking the last time LCU has played a tripleheader.