No.9 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (19-7, 4-0)
At NEWMAN (10-16, 2-2)
Thursday, Mar. 29, 2018 – 2 p.m. / 4 p.m. (DH)
McCarthy Field (Wichita, Kan.)
Radio: Online Only
All-Time Series: LCU leads 11-2
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The No.9 Chaparrals embark on an eight-game Heartland Conference road swing with a stop in Wichita, Kan. to open the trip with a four-game series against Newman. The game mark LCU's first conference road games, as LCU carries a 6-1 overall road record on the season. LCU is riding a four-game win streak and are the only Heartland Conference team without a conference loss on the season. Newman split with St. Edward's last week in Austin, Texas and are tied for fourth in the conference with a 2-2 mark.
RANKINGS
LCU: No.9 (Perfect Game), No.29 (Collegiate Baseball News), RV (NCBWA)
NU: N/A
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHER
GAME 1
LCU –
Ricky Contreras (4-1, 3.03 ERA)
The reigning Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year is scheduled for his eighth appearance and seventh start of the season. He is 4-0 in his last five appearances and has gone at least 4.1 innings in his starts this season. Contreras has allowed one run or less in five of his seven appearances and has held opponents to a .235 average. He is 2-0 all-time against Newman in two prior appearance (one start). He has combined for a 0.00 ERA in 14.2 shutout innings, with four hits allowed and 19 strikeouts against Newman.
NU – Zack Erdman (3-3, 5.14 ERA)
Erdman is scheduled for his eighth outing of the season. The junior from Chicago has gone at least 6.0 innings in his last six starts. He held St. Edward's to three runs off six hits in 7.0 innings pitched. The Black Hawk College (Ill.) transfer is making his first appearance against LCU.
GAME 2
LCU –
Daniel Crooks (2-2, 4.19 ERA)
Like Contreras, Crooks is scheduled for his eighth appearance and seventh start of the season. He is 1-1 in his last four appearances and is coming off a start against Oklahoma Christian in which he allowed four runs (three earned) off seven hits in 3.1 innings. He did not receive a decision. Crooks faced Newman twice last season and went 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA. He combined to allow four runs off eight hits and struck out 13 Jets.
NU – Josh Mapel (1-1, 10.80 ERA)
The junior right-hander is looking towards his second start of season. He has combined for 5.0 innings in three appearances on the season, and is coming off 2.1 innings against St. Edward's (allowed three runs off five hits). The Coffeyville Community College transfer has never faced the Chaps.
LOOKING BACK
Lubbock Christian University starting pitchers
Ryan Johnson and
Callan Johnson combined to allow three hits and did not allow an earned run in 14 innings, while the No.14 Chaparrals offense produced 27 hits en route to a 14-2 and 9-2 win Saturday to complete a four-game Heartland Conference series sweep of Oklahoma Christian at Hays Field. LCU's sweep of OC marked their first over the Eagles since the 2012 season at Hays Field. The Chaps completed their first four-game conference series sweep since sweeping No.15 Rogers State in April of 2013 (at Hays Field).
WEEKLY HARDWARE
LCU's sweep of Oklahoma Christian led to several individual honors.
Ryan Rogers claimed Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week accolades, while
Callan Johnson received Heartland Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week.
Ryan Rogers, who led the Chaps with 10 hits in the series, hit .588 (10-of-17) with multi-hit performances in each game of the series (pair of two-hit and three-hit games). Rogers, who scored eight runs) was 7-for-8 with runners on base and 6-of-7 with runners in scoring position, leading to eight RBI on the week. The Littlefield, Texas native also produced three extra-base hits and compiled a .632 on-base percentage. Rogers' honor is his third hitter of the week award this season.
In LCU's sweep of Oklahoma Christian,
Callan Johnson claimed the victory in the final game of the series. Johnson went seven innings, holding the Eagles to one hit while facing one batter over the minimum and retiring the first 13 batters he faced. The junior from Idalou, Texas struck out a season-high 11 batters with seven punchouts in his first four innings of work. The 11 strikeouts Saturday marked the most by an LCU pitcher this season and the most since
Ricky Contreras struck out 11 Tarleton State batters on Mar. 17, 2017. This is Johnson's second weekly award this season in the Heartland and the first by the NCBWA.
ROAD SHOW
LCU is 6-1 on the road this season, with a team batting average of .346 and an ERA of 3.38.
Andrew Pratt is hitting .483 away from home and
Ryan Rogers has 16 RBI in road games. Pratt and Rogers each have a slugging mark of at least 1.000 and an on-base percentage of at least .500 on the road. On the hill, LCU pitching has held opponents to a .278 average on the road. LCU's bullpen has allowed seven earned runs in 18.2 innings on the road.
STREAKS
Andrew Pratt has the longest active hit streak with hits in the last six games for LCU (10-for-21, .476, during the stretch).
Ryan Rogers, who has hits in his last four games, has reached base safely in the last 19 games.
Logan Nethercot has the season high, reaching base safely in 20 straight games.
INSIDE THE CHAPS NUMBERS
0.85 |
Ryan Johnson ranks 17
th nationally in WHIP with a mark of 0.85.
3.27 | The Heartland Conference is showing some solid pitching numbers from their programs this season, as the Chaps ERA of 3.42 ranks 16
th nationally, but is third best in the Heartland Conference.
7 | Chaps shortstop
Andres Negron has seven hits in his last four games, hitting .467 in that span.
8.1 | LCU has allowed 8.1 hits per nine innings, which leads the conference and ranks 22
nd nationally.
13 | LCU co-leads the conference with 13 sacrifice flies. Ten (10) different Chaps have at least one sacrifice fly this season.
36 |
Ryan Rogers leads the conference and ranks 18
th nationally with 36 RBI.
31 | The Chaps have crushed 40 home runs this season, which ranks 12
th nationally (1.54 per game also ranks seventh).
Andrew Pratt (10 homers) and
Ryan Rogers (eight) are the top two in the conference and Pratt ranks 14
th nationally.
FIVE THINGS ABOUT NU
~ Coming off a series in which they split at St. Edward's, the Jets are 10-16 this season and are 2-2 in conference play. At McCarthy Field, Newman is 4-6. They are 4-2 in their last six games.
~ Newman is preseason picked seventh in the Heartland Conference. They are coming off a 21-28 overall mark last season, which included a 9-13 home record and 8-16 conference mark.
~ The Jets have been plunked 36 times this season, which leads the conference and is 47
th nationally. Brian Canfield has been hit seven times.
~ Zack Erdman ranks tied for sixth nationally with four complete games this season.
~ Paul Rupnik led NU in their series in Austin, Texas at SEU with a 10 total bases off a 6-for-16 (.375) performance at the plate. Three players had at least a .500 on-base percentage in the series.
HISTORY WITH NU
LCU owns an 11-2 all-time series advantage. Last season, LCU won all four meetings, as the two teams opened their series in Grand Prairie, Texas at the DII AirHogs Classic on Feb. 4 before LCU swept their conference series at Hays Field. LCU has six straight wins in the all-time series and is 5-2 all-time away from Hays Field against Newman. iN 2016, LCU lost the opening game at McCarthy Field, but then won the final two games to claim the series in Wichita.
