No.13 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (26-12, 11-5)
at ROGERS STATE (20-18, 6-10)
Thursday, Apr. 19, 2018 – 1 p.m. / 3:30 p.m. (DH)
Diamond Sports Complex (Claremore, Okla.)
Radio: KJTV 100.7 The Score
All-Time Series: LCU leads 25-9
Tweet #LCUvsRSU | Tweet #HeartlandBASE
 
No.13 Lubbock Christian bounced back last week at home, sweeping Texas A&M International, to move them into second place in the Heartland Conference standings. LCU, winners of their last four games overall, seeks to end a four-game road losing skid in Claremore, Okla. Thursday facing Rogers State University for a four-game conference series. The Chaps (11-5 in conference) enter the series 1.0 games behind Arkansas - Fort Smith in the standings. Rogers State enters the week in sixth place, with a 6-10 conference mark. The series is the first leg (four games) of an eight-game road trip, which continues next week in Austin, Texas.
 
RANKINGS 
LCU: No.13 (Perfect Game)
RSU: N/A
 
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHER
 
GAME 1
LCU – Ricky Contreras (6-2, 2.78 ERA)
Thursday's series opener will mark the 11th appearance and 10th start of the season for Contreras. His last start resulted in a complete game victory, going 7.0 innings and allowing two runs off four hits against Texas A&M International. Opponents are hitting .221 against Contreras this season. He is 3-1 in conference play, with a 2.73 ERA and opponents hitting .209 against him. Contreras is 1-1 all-time against RSU, with six runs allowed (five earned) off 10 hits in 13 combined innings (3.46 ERA). He has 15 strikeouts in the span.
 
RSU – Landon Nealon (0-0, 9.00 ERA)
Nealon has made 12 appearances out of the bullpen and is scheduled for his first start of the season. Opponents are hitting .362 against the right-handed senior from Newbury Park, Calif. His prior six outings have been six innings or less and he has allowed seven earned runs in his last three outings (spanning two innings). Last season (May 6, 2017), Nealon went 3.0 innings against LCU, allowing seven runs off 10 hits and suffered the loss of a 12-7 LCU win.
 
GAME 2
LCU – Callan Johnson (6-2, 3.23 ERA)
Johnson claimed Heartland Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week honors last week for his first complete game shutout performance of the season, completing the task Friday against TAMIU. The start for Johnson is set for his 10th of the season. The right-hander from Idalou, Texas has a team best rate of holding the opposition to a .193 average. Johnson is 3-1 in conference play and holding opponents to a .189 average.
 
RSU – Preston Whitten (2-1, 4.66 ERA)
The right-handed pitcher from Wagoner, Okla. is slated for his 12^th appearance and third start of the season.  On Apr. 15 against Arkansas-Fort Smith, Whitten went 2.1 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) off four hits in 2.1 innings. He was without a decision in an 11-5 loss. Whitten is 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA in four conference appearances. 
 
LOOKING BACK
Lubbock Christian University are coming off a four-game series sweep over Texas A&M University in which they outscored the Dustdevils 40-7. LCU hit .415 in the series and their pitchers combined for a 1.20 ERA, holding TAMIU to hit .189 in the series. LCU had 22 extra-base hits in the series (TAMIU had three), with 11 doubles and a 9-0 advantage in home runs. Ryan Rogers (three doubles and a triple) and Andrew Pratt (three doubles and a home run) co-led the squad in extra-base hits. Seven different Chaps had at least one home run in the series, with Keaton Greenwalt and Church each with two in the four-game series.
 
AWARDING WEEK
It was a sweep of awards for LCU this week, as Scotland Church and Callan Johnson, claimed National Collegiate Baseball Writers South Central Region Player of the Week  and Heartland Conference Player of the Week honors. Church (hitter) and Johnson (pitcher) picked up the awards for games played from April 9 - April 15.
 
Lubbock Christian completed a four-game series sweep of Texas A&M International with senior Scotland Church hitting .688 in the series on 11-of-16 at the plate with a double and two home runs leading to seven RBI, 18 total bases, a 1.125 slugging mark and a .706 on-base percentage. All four games included multi-hit performances, including a season-best 4-for-4 mark in the second game. The Lubbock native and Oregon State transfer also went 6-for-11 (.545) with runners on base, 5-for-5 (1.000) with the bases empty (2-for-2 reaching with a leadoff at-bat) and 5-for-7 (.714) in two-out at-bats. Church's honors were his first NCBWA and Heartland weekly award this season.
 
Junior Callan Johnson helped LCU sweep a four-game series over Texas A&M International with his first complete game shutout of the season. Johnson went 7.0 innings, holding the Dustdevils to three. While fighting strong winds, the Lubbock native and Idalou product kept the ball out of the air by striking out nine batters and forcing TAMIU to ground out into 10 outs. Johnson held TAMIU to 1-for-10 with runners on base and 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and held the Dustdevils to .125 hitting on the day. This is Johnson's second player of the week award this season issued by the NCBWA (he is the only two-time recipient of the award this season) and third Heartland Conference honor.
  
DOUBLE VISION
Lubbock Christian led the Heartland Conference last season with 111 doubles. This season, they are hitting doubles at a tad higher pace (2.13 per game this season… 2.06 last season) and have 81 through 38 games on the season. They combined for 11 in their series with TAMIU. Scotland Church leads LCU with 13 on the season, which ranks second in the conference.
 
COMPLETIONS
LCU's starting pitchers completed complete game outings in all four games of their series against TAMIU. The last time LCU had three consecutive complete game pitching performances was Mar. 16 - 17, 2009 in home wins over Texas Wesleyan and College of Santa Fe. The last time LCU completed the task of four consecutive complete games was in February of 2008, as they manufactured a string of five straight complete game pitching performances. That stretch in 2008 came from pitchers Gary Poynter (Feb. 22, 2008 vs. Cumberland and Feb. 29, 2008 at Oklahoma Baptist), James Wallace (Feb. 23, 2008 vs. Cumberland), Tanner Vickers (Feb. 29, 2008 vs. Cumberland) and current assistant coach Chris Holguin (Feb. 29, 2008 at Oklahoma Baptist). LCU is tied for seventh nationally with 10 complete games.
  
ROAD TRIPPING
LCU is 9-6 on the road this season and seeking to end a four-game road losing streak. The Chaps, who have dropped five of their last six road games, head to Claremore with a team batting average of .301 on the road and an ERA of 4.37. Andrew Pratt leads LCU away from Hays Field, hitting .451 on te road. The Chaps have a 22-7 advantage in home runs on the road, with Pratt and Ryan Rogers each with five homers on the road. On the hill, LCU pitching has held opponents to a .279 average away from Hays Field. LCU's pitchers have 101 strikeouts and 58 walks on the road.
 
STREAKS
Andrew Pratt leads LCU, with an active seven-game hit streak. He has reached base safely in 18 consecutive games. Ryan Rogers holds the seasons highs, with a 12-game hit streak and a streak of 23 games reaching base safely.  Pratt has a three-game hit streak on the road and has reached base safely in 15 consecutive road games. He is hitting 13-for-24 (.542) in his current seven-game hit streak.
 
HAVING HEART
The Chaps are 11-5 in conference play and hitting .341 in conference games this season. Andrew Pratt (.472), Scotland Church (.441), Ryan Rogers (.439) and Keaton Greenwalt (.400) are each hitting over .400 in conference play. The Chaps have six players with at least 13 RBI in conference play, with 18 by Andrew Pratt topping the list LCU's pitching has a 4.03 ERA in conference play, with opponents hitting .251 against them.  Opponents have a 8.46 ERA against LCU in conference.
 
INSIDE THE CHAPS NUMBERS
0.516 | LCU ranks 12^th nationally with a slugging mark of .516 on the season, which leads the conference. Andrew Pratt leads the team and ranks 28^th nationally with a mark of .750 (leads conference).
0.98 | Ryan Johnson ranks 31^st nationally in WHIP with a mark of 0.98, which leads the conference. Chandler Casey is third in the conference (1.09).
1.1 | Chandler Casey ranks 12^th nationally, allowing a low of 1.1 walks per nine innings. He has allowed five in 39.1 innings this season.
3.58 | The Chaps made a jump from fourth to first in the Heartland Conference last week and have a team ERA of 3.58, which ranks 14^th nationally.
6.3 | Callan Johnson leads the conference and ranks 34^th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (6.27). Ryan Johnson is second in the conference and ranks 40^th in hits allowed per nine innings (6.36).
10 | Ten (10) different Chaps have at least one sacrifice fly this season. They have produced 16 as a squad.
14 | Andrew Pratt leads the Chaps with 14 multi-hit games this season.
29 | Logan Nethercot has drawn 29 base-on-balls this season (ranks second in the conference) and the walks rank 49^th nationally.
43 | Ryan Rogers leads the conference and ranks 59^th nationally with 43 RBI. He has produced 13 multi-RBI games this season.
50 | The Chaps have crushed 50 home runs this season, which ranks 24^th nationally (1.3 per game ranks 22th). Andrew Pratt (11 homers) leads the conference and Pratt ranks 41^st nationally.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT RSU
-  The Hillcats, who went 31-19 last season (11-13 in conference and 22-8 at home), are 20-18 this season (6-10 in conference and 9-9 at home) are 6-12 the last 18 games and have dropped their last two games.
- RSU was preseason picked sixth in the Heartland Conference Preseason Poll and they are currently tied for sixth in the conference.
- The Hillcats rank tied for fourth nationally with seven shutouts this season.
- Zack Mann leads the Heartland Conference with eight sacrifice bunts this season. As a team, RSU ranks 19^th nationally and second in the conference with 34 sac bunts. Mann also has a team leading five sacrifice flies for 13 total sacs.
- RSU has 36 hits combined over their last three games, for a pace of 12 hits per game in the stretch. Prior to the three game, RSU had gone 21 games without reaching 12 hits.
 
HISTORY WITH RSU
LCU leads the all-time series with a 25-9 mark. The Chaps have won 13 of the last 16 prior regular season meetings. In the conference series (Heartland and Sooner Athletic Conference), the home team has only won the series four times (out of 11 series). LCU swept RSU at home (three games) last season. The Chaps are 14-4 against RSU away from home and won two of three games in Claremore in 2016.