HEARTLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
No.3-Seed LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (33-18)
vs. No.1-Seed ST. EDWARD'S (31-19)
Friday, May 11, 2018 – 3:30 p.m.
The Depot (Cleburne, Texas)
Radio: KJTV 100.7 FM "The Score"
All-Time Series: LCU Leads 20-16
Tweet #LCUvsSEU | Tweet #HeartlandBASE
 
Lubbock Christian University opened their 2018 stay in Cleburne, Texas at the Heartland Conference Tournament with an 11-5 victory over St. Mary's Thursday for their first ever opening game win at the tournament. The win moved them into Friday's 3:30 p.m. winner's bracket contest against St. Edward's, who defeated Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
IF LCU DEFEATS SEU
+ They advance to Saturday's championship round (noon first pitch) and would have to lose twice to their opponent.
+ A win would place LCU's 2018 Heartland Conference Tournament record at 2-0, providing them their best start in the tournament and would mark a program single-tournament high for wins.
 
IF LCU LOSES TO SEU
+ The Chaps would fall into the elimination bracket and would play at 7 p.m. Friday against the winner of Friday's noon contest (St. Mary's vs. Arkansas – Fort Smith).
 
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SEEDS
1-St. Edward''s
2-St. Mary's
3-Lubbock Christian
4-Arkansas-Fort Smith
 
LOOKING BACK
LCU exploded for 11 runs off 17 hits, with Scotland Church, Dillon Drury and Andrew Pratt each producing three-hit performances, and the No.3-seeded Chaparrals used a complete game pitching performance from Ricky Contreras to garner an 11-5 win over No.2-seeded St. Mary's Thursday night at The Depot at Cleburne Station. The 11 runs and 17 hits were Heartland Conference Tournament program highs for LCU, who entered the game with an all-time hitting mark of .188 in five all-time games in the tournament (entered the tournament 1-4 all-time at the tournament). The Chaps were 0-2 in Heartland Conference Tournament openers prior to Thursday.
 
IN THE REGION
Here is a look at this week's NCAA Division II South Central Region rankings and how the teams stand in their respective conference tournaments heading into Friday.
 
1. West Tex. A&M (0-0, play Eastern N.M. Friday)
2. Colorado Mesa (1-1, play Colorado Colorado Springs Friday)
3. Tex. A&M-Kingsville (1-0, play Tarleton St. Friday)         
4. Colo. School. Of Mines (2-0, play CSU-Pueblo or Regis Friday)
5. St. Edward's (1-0, play LCU Friday)
6. Ark.-Fort Smith (0-1, play St. Mary's Friday)
7. Angelo St. (0-1, eliminated after losing to Eastern N.M.) 
8. St. Mary's (0-1, play UAFS Friday)
 
CHANGING THINGS
Thursday's game (over St. Mary's) was LCU's first neutral site game of the season and they improved to 2-4 all-time record at the Heartland Conference Tournament.  LCU hit .386 Thursday with 17 hits Thursday, which was well above the .188 all-time average they had entering the tournament.  Keaton Greenwalt produced a home run Thursday, which marked LCU's first home run ever hit at the tournament.  Ryan Rogers is LCU's only everyday returning positional player with history playing at the tournament and he is .308 (4-for-13) all-time. He is LCU's active hits leader at the tournament (4) and three hits behind Jaime Bustamante, who has seven career hits at the tournament. LCU's pitching staff has a 4.08 all-time mark at the tournament. Ricky Contreras leads LCU all-time at the tournament in starts (three) and is 1-1 all-time with a 5.73 ERA in the tournament. His complete game Thursday marked LCU's first complete game performed in the tournament. LCU's only other active pitcher with a start in the tournament is Daniel Crooks, who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA all-time in the tournament.
 
STREAKS
Scotland Church and Andrew Pratt co-lead LCU into the tournament with a five-game hit streak. The longest hit streak of the season thus far is a 12-game hit streak by Ryan Rogers. Logan Nethercot is the active leader in consecutive games reaching base safely with 11. Rogers has the season's longest streak of reaching base safely at 24.
 
NUMBERS INSIDE THE SERIES VS. SEU
.204 | LCU is hitting a low of .204 against the Hilltoppers this season. Logan Nethercot is hitting .360 (9-for-25) to lead LCU in the series.
.442 | SEU has a .442 on-base percentage against LCU this season, due in part to 14 hit batters and 39 walks issued by LCU pitchers (18 by the LCU bullpen).
18-2 | SEU has an 18-2 advantage in the series in bases loaded at-bats, with a 7-1 advantage in bases loaded hits in the series.
32-7 | The Hilltoppers have a 25-7 scoring advantage in two-out RBI. The Hilltoppers are hitting .345 as a team in two-out at-bats in the series.
24 | William Hairston leads SEU with 24 total bases in the series (off 15-for-28 batting in the series, .536).
 
HISTORY WITH SEU
LCU leads the all-time series with an advantage of 20-16 dat­ing back to 1986. The Chaps are 10-10 all-time away from Hays Field against the 'Toppers and 0-1 all-time at the HC Tournament. Last season, LCU took two-of-three games in their Heartland Conference series, but the season series end­ed 2-2, as SEU won the final two meetings (including a win at the Heartland Conference Tournament in Cleburne, Texas). SEU is 6-2 against LCU this season and swept the Chaps in a four-game conference series in Austin (SEU has Won the prior five meetings this season).