No.16 ARKANSAS – FORT SMITH (32-13, 17-7)
at LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (28-18, 13-11)
Thursday, May 3, 2018 – 4 p.m. / 6 p.m. (DH)
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
Radio: Online Only
All-Time Series: LCU leads 6-5
Tweet #HeartlandBASE | Tweet #LCUvsUAFS
 
It is an intriguing final week of the regular season in the Heartland Conference.  There are five programs that have a mathematical chance of winning the Heartland Conference regular season.  At the same time, one of the five programs will miss out on the Heartland Conference Tournament, which the top four teams in the conference will attend next week in Cleburne, Texas. Lubbock Christian enters the fray in fourth place of the conference, with a 13-11 conference mark.  The best scenario for LCU to win the conference regular season title is to sweep Arkansas Fort Smith (17-7) and have St. Mary's (15-9) and St. Edward's (15-9) lose at least three games in each of their series. Newman (13-11) is tied with LCU, to enter week's play, but LCU holds the head-to-head tiebreakers against Newman if the two teams end with identical conference records.
 
RANKINGS 
LCU: N/A
UAFS: National: No.16 (NCBWA), No.23 (Collegiate Baseball),   Regional: No.1 (NCAA South Central Region Poll)
 
SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHER
 
GAME 1
LCU – Callan Johnson (6-4, 4.69 ERA)
Thursday's series opener will mark the 11th start of the season for Johnson. The right hander from Idalou, Texas seeks to bounce back from a pair of losses in his last two outings. He has allowed 12 runs over his last 8.1 innings, allowing nine runs off seven hits in 2.2 innings at St. Edward's.  His last two home starts have resulted in a pair of wins and four hits allowed over 14 shutout innings.
 
UAFS – Javon Rigsby (6-3, 2.63 ERA)
Set for his 12^th appearance and ninth start, Rigsby has had six complete games in his last eight starts. He has held opponents to a .215 batting average. He is coming off a four-hit complete game shutout over Oklahoma Christian.
 
GAME 2
LCU – Daniel Crooks (4-4, 4.64 ERA)
Crooks, a senior from Midland, Texas, will make his 12^th appearance and 11^th start of the 2018 campaign. He is coming off his shortest outing of the season, allowing six runs off four hits in 1.2 innings at St. Edward's. He has not made an appearance at home since Mar. 23 and has allowed four runs over his last 19.2 innings pitched at home. He went 1-0 against UAFS last season (Apr. 27, 2017) with two runs allowed off three hits in 8.0 innings.
 
UAFS – Blake Welch (2-0, 5.83 ERA)
Welch has split his time between the rotation and the bullpen and is set for his ninth appearance and fifth start of the season. Opponents are hitting .325 against Welch this season, but he has not allowed a home run in 29 innings on the hill. His last two appearances have been starts and he has allowed five runs in each of the appearances, including five runs off seven hits in 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts. 
 
LOOKING BACK
The Chaps went 2-6 in their eight-game road trip, which concluded with a four-game sweep of losses at St. Edward's.  The Hilltoppers shutout the Chaps in three of the games, with LCU scoring runs in two innings of the entire series.
 
APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS
It was a tough April for the Chaps, as they went 6-10 in the month.  Twelve of their 16 games during the month were on the road, and they were 2-10 in road play during the month. Bright spots coming out of the month of April were Andrew Pratt's team leading .377 average at the plate (20-of-53) and Scotland Church hitting three home runs and a team-leading 12 RBI over April.
  
DOUBLE VISION
Lubbock Christian led the Heartland Conference last season with 111 doubles. This season, they are hitting doubles near the same pace (1.9 per game this season… 2.06 last season) and have a conference high 88 through 46 games on the season. Scotland Church and Andrew Pratt c-lead the team and each are tied for third in the conference with 13 on the season. LCU has 45 doubles at home (23 home games), produced by 13 different players.
 
IN THE BIG-INNING
The Chaparrals have outscored the opposition 43-19 in the first inning of play this season, which includes a mark of 34-5 in home games. The Chaps are 16-1 this season when they score in the first inning (7-0 in conference). LCU isn't necessarily posting a dominating batting average in the first inning (.273) this season, but Logan Nethercot has 11 hits and 13 walks for a .545 on-base percentage and Scotland Church has a .400 batting average and a .478 on-base percentage in the first inning of games this season. Nethercot has 15 runs in the first inning.  LCU has also dominated in the fifth inning of games this season, outscoring opponents 64-28 (43-20 in conference) with a .379 team batting average in the inning. Andrew Pratt (.625) and Ryan Rogers (.611) are each hitting over .600 this season in fifth-inning at-bats, and the team has combined for 13 home runs during the inning.
 
SENIOR SALUTE
LCU's series against UAFS marks their final regular season series and final home games of the season.  Prior to Friday's 3 p.m. first pitch, LCU's senior class of baseball student-athletes will be recognized (estimated 2:45 p.m. ceremony start). Eight seniors mark this season's senior class, and they include Colton Blackford, Scotland Church, Daniel Crooks, Dillon Drury, Nick Hooper, Logan Nethercot, Brenon Rhodes and Ryan Rogers (Rogers is the only senior class member that has played his entire college career at LCU).
 
SHOWCASING
Friday's final regular season doubleheader will be streamed as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase on ESPN3.  Daron Sutton, who has spent time behind the mic for MLB broadcasts and is the son of legendary MLB pitcher Don Sutton, will provide the play-by-play and former big leaguer Dmitri Young will serve as analyst for the ESPN3 broadcast stream. The games will mark LCU's broadcast debut on ESPN3.
  
HAYS-ING
LCU, who opened the season 0-3 and 1-4 at home, is 17-6 at home this season and 8-0 in home conference contests. The Chaps, winners of their last eight home games, head into Thursday with a team batting average of .312 at home and an ERA of 3.07. Ryan Rogers leads LCU at Hays Field, hitting .388 with 31 hits at home. The Chaps have a 45-27 advantage in doubles and a 28-6 advantage in home runs at home (Andrew Pratt leads LCU with six homers at home). On the hill, opponents are hitting .223 against LCU pitching at Hays Field. LCU's pitchers have 154 strikeouts and 69 walks at home. Callan Johnson (.137) and Ryan Johnson (.139) are each holding opponents under .140 at the plate and each have over 30 innings pitched at home.
 
STREAKS
LCU's offensive struggles on the road have kept their hitting streaks to a minimum. Logan Nethercot (8-for-20, .400, in his last six games) actively leads the team with a six-game hit streak heading into Thursday.  He is also riding a six-game streak reaching base safely, which actively leads LCU. Ryan Rogers holds the team's season high mark in hit streak (12 games) and reaching base safely (23 games).
 
HAVING HEART
The Chaps are 13-11 in conference play and hitting .307 in conference games this season. Andrew Pratt (.400) has 32 hits (in 80 at-bats) in conference play, with Scotland Church (.365, 31 hits) and Ryan Rogers (.357, 30 hits) not far behind. The Chaps have six players with at least 15 RBI in conference play, with 20 by Ryan Rogers to top the list. LCU's pitching has a 5.23 ERA in conference play, with opponents hitting .276 against them.  Opponents have a 6.44 ERA against LCU in conference.
 
INSIDE THE CHAPS NUMBERS
.480 | LCU ranks 43rd nationally with a slugging mark of .480 on the season, which leads the conference. Andrew Pratt leads the team with a mark of .677 (leads conference).
1.08 | Ryan Johnson ranks 49^th nationally in WHIP with a mark of 1.08, which ranks second in the conference.
1.4 | Chandler Casey ranks 19^th nationally, allowing a low of 1.28 walks per nine innings. He has allowed six in 41.2 innings this season.
4 | The Heartland Conference has four teams in the top-45 nationally in pitching ERA. Despite ranking fourth in the conference, LCU's ERA of 4.25 is 45^th nationally.
6.5 | Ryan Johnson ranks second in the conference and ranks 32^nd nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (6.5). Callan Johnson is fourth in the conference and ranks 72^nd  in hits allowed per nine innings (7.3).
10 | Ten (10) different Chaps have at least one sacrifice fly this season. They have produced 18 as a squad.
16 | Andrew Pratt leads the Chaps with 16 multi-hit games this season.
91.9 | LCU is 34-of-37 in stolen base attempts for a 91.9% success rate. In comparison, LCU opponents are 33-of-52 (63.5%).
48 | Ryan Rogers leads the conference and ranks 77^th nationally with 48 RBI. He has produced 14 multi-RBI games this season.
52 | The Chaps have crushed 52 home runs this season, which ranks 39^th nationally (1.1 per game ranks 35^th). Andrew Pratt leads the conference with 11 homers.
 
FIVE THINGS ABOUT UAFS
~ Coming off a series in which they won three-of-four games against Oklahoma Christian, the Lions are 32-13 this season and are 17-7 in conference play. On the road, UAFS is 13-5. They have won their last two road games, but have not played on the road since Apr. 15.
~ UAFS is preseason picked second in the Heartland Conference. They are coming off a 35-22 overall mark last season, which included a trip to the NCAA South Central Region Tournament. They currently lead the Heartland with their 17-7 conference mark.
~ The Lions carry a No.16 national ranking and are LCU's second ranked opponent this season.  LCU is 2-1 this season against ranked teams, as they went 2-1 against then-No.20 ranked Angelo State in February.
~ The Lions rank third nationally in triples with 22. Dion Williams is responsible for 10 of them, which ranks him second nationally.
~ UAFS leads the conference in complete games with 16. Dawson Floyd and Javon Rigsby each co-lead the team and rank tied for 10^th nationally with six.
  
HISTORY WITH UAFS
LCU has a 6-5 all-time series lead over UAFS, but the Chaps went 1-3 against the lions last season. Their last meeting last season resulted in a 14-inning UAFS win at the Heartland Conference Tournament in Cleburne, Texas. The Chaps won two-of-three games in 2016, their last series in Lubbock. LCU is 5-1 all-time against UAFS in Lubbock.