LUBBOCK, Texas (Feb. 10, 2019) – Lubbock Christian University took the series lead against Cameron on Saturday afternoon, using strong offensive performances and a pair of complete games on the mound to outscore the Aggies 26-1 overall.
 
The Chaps are now 4-2 on the season and dropped the Aggies to 3-3 on the season with the pair of losses.
 
LCU used Ryan Johnson and Callan Johnson on the mound in the two games and got strong, complete-game outings from both. Ryan started the first game of the day and matched his career high in strikeouts with 12. He scattered just four hits and one walk, getting ahead of 17 of the 26 hitters he faced with first pitch strikes. The left-hander also did not allow a hit against the eight lefties he faced on the day.
 
Callan gave up even less hits (3) and allowed just six baserunners overall while setting a new career-high with 13 strikeouts. His previous career high was 11, set on March 24, 2018 against Oklahoma Christian. The two performances lowered LCU's starting pitcher ERA to just 1.10 on the year.
 
Lubbock Christian scored early and often in the first game of the day, getting two runs in the first and three more in the second. Chase Whetsel led things off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Andrew Pratt. LCU's second batter, Eddy Vasquez, also reached base via an error, and scored on a double from Keaton Greenwalt to open the scoring. Whetsel had just the one hit in game one of the doubleheader, but went 3-4 in the nightcap, falling just a triple shy of the cycle.
 
The Chaps scored another three runs in the fourth inning, with two coming on an RBI triple from Hill Alexander, who then came around to score on a single from Drew Austin. Alexander got hot at the plate during the doubleheader, recording six hits in nine at-bats and raising his batting average on the season to .333. LCU also did much better hitting with runners in scoring position on the day. Coming into Saturday's games, they were hitting just .174 in those situations, but they raised that batting average to .317 with their performance in the doubleheader.
 
LCU's final three runs of the game came in the sixth inning as Greenwalt led off with a single and Alexander and Austin hit back-to-back doubles. All three eventually came around to score.
 
Cameron actually opened the scoring in the second game of the day, striking for one run in the first. The Chaps quickly got the lead back for Callan with a four-run first inning. Third basemen Braden Hayward drove in one of the runs for his first of the season and drove in a second during the third inning as well.
Whetsel helped tack on a single run in the second inning with the first home run of his LCU career. The Chaps then blew the game open in the fifth inning when they sent 11 hitters to the plate and scored seven runs, their most in a single inning this season.
 
Callan closed out the win with three strikeouts in the seventh, giving Lubbock Christian a chance for the series win at 1 p.m. on Monday.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
18 – The Chaps had 18 hits in RBI opportunities in the two games combined out of 36 chances
5 – Five different LCU players had multiple RBIs in both the first and second games of the day
.417 – Keaton Greenwalt had five more hits in the two games combined (in eight at-bats), raising his team-leading batting average to .417 on the season