SAN ANTONIO, Texas (April 2, 2018) – No.9 Lubbock Christian University suffered consecutive losses for the first time since the opening weekend of the season, falling 3-1 and 6-1 at St. Mary's University Friday, as LCU was held to five hits in the opening doubleheader of their four-game Heartland Conference series at Dickson Stadium.
 
Lubbock Christian was riding the wave of strong pitching from starting pitcher Ricky Contreras in the opening, but the Chaps starting pitcher hit a snag in the fourth inning after retiring the first nine batters he faced in order. The Rattlers hit four singles in the fourth inning and RBI-singles by Jacob Aguilar and Angel Vega provided the home team a 2-0 lead. StMU starting pitcher Fernando Fernandez-Beltran, a University of New Mexico transfer, held LCU to two hits through five innings.  He had a shutout in tact until Keaton Greenwalt belted a solo home run over the left field fence in the sixth inning. Andrew Pratt reached on a walk with one out in the seventh inning, trailing 3-1, but Dillon Drury, representing the tying run at the plate, hit into a game-ending double play.
 
Fernandez-Beltran (5-3) tossed his sixth complete game of the season and held LCU to one run off three hits. Will Clark and Braden Hayward had LCU's only other hits, joining Greenwalt, but they were two-out single. LCU was held to two at-bats with runners on base.  Outside of Greenwalt's homer, Fernandez-Beltran did not allow LCU to have a runner advance past first base.
 
Contreras went 5.1 innings and allowed three runs off five hits. He fell to 5-2 on the season and it was his first career loss to St. Mary's (fifth career appearance).
 
LCU had opportunities early in the second game, as StMU committed five errors and starting pitcher Zach De La Garza offered five free passes (four walks and a hit batter) through the first four innings, but LCU had one run to show for it. The Chaps committed four base running mistakes leading to outs. Drury hit a hard ground ball with the infield playing in, and it was booted by third baseman Aguilar. Scotland Church scored from third base, but Andrew Pratt was thrown out at home trying to score from third base. Leading 1-0, LCU had two players thrown out between second and third base in the fourth inning on fielders' choice plays.
 
Despite the missed opportunities, Ryan Johnson was keeping St. Mary's off the scoreboard, holding the Rattlers to one hit through three innings. Johnson never made it out of the fourth inning though, walking four batters, resulting in 3.2 innings pitched for his shortest start of the season.  Johnson, who entered the game with 10 walks issued on the season, walked five in the game. He held StMU to two hits, but the walks were too much to overcome. StMU sent six batters to the plate with two outs in the fourth inning and two-out two-run base hits by Andrew Perez and James Davison led to the Rattlers taking a 4-1 lead.
 
Nathan Dockery arrived on the mound from the Chaps bullpen and tossed a career-long outing. He held StMU to two hits over four scoreless innings, but De La Garza settled down with the walks and silenced the LCU bats. De La Garza, improving to 7-1 after allowing two hits in eight innings, allowed one hit over the final 20 batters faced and retired the final eight batters faced. His only hits allowed were hit by Greenwalt and Pratt, and he did not allow a walk after the fifth inning.
 
Johnson dropped to 4-3, allowing four runs off two hits in 3.2 innings. LCU walked eight batters in the game.
 
The Chaps combined for five hits on the day (combined four Chaps had hits), with Greenwalt serving as the only Chap with at least two hits. LCU fell to 22-10 overall and 7-3 in conference play. The last time LCU lost consecutive games was on Feb. 9 -10, as LCU lost to Regis in consecutive home games. StMU, now 16-1 at home, improved to 22-10 overall and 6-4. The two teams continue their four-game conference series Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1 | The Chaps were 1-for-17 (.059) Friday with runners on base and 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.  They were 0-for-15 with runners on base in the second game. StMU had seven hits with runners on base (.318) and all seven came with runners in scoring position.
2 | LCU's loss in the opener marked the second time LCU has lost when they hit a home run in a game this season.  They are now 14-2 in games in which they produce at least one home run.
3 | LCU scored the opening run in the second game, resulting in the third time this season they have lost when scoring the game's first run. They are now 14-3 when scoring first.
5 | The five errors by StMU in the second game were the most by an opposing team against LCU this season. The last time an opposing team had more was on Mar. 31, 2017 (Texas A&M International with seven). The last time an opposing team committed five errors against the Chaps and won was on April 7, 2015 against West Texas A&M. On Mar. 13, 2015 in San Antonio, StMU committed five errors in a 3-1 StMU win.
6-0 | StMU had a 6-0 scoring advantage Friday in two-out RBI.
9 | There were a combined 10 foul-outs Friday, with LCU hitting into six (four in the second game).
23 | Ryan Rogers had his streak of 23 consecutive games reaching base safely snapped. The mark is the longest by a Chaps member this season.