LUBBOCK, Texas (February 24, 2019) – Lubbock Christian University opened their Heartland Conference play splitting a doubleheader with Newman University Sunday at PlainsCapital Park. Newman opened with a 7-3 win before the Lady Chaparrals rebounded with a 23-7 victory behind a program record 18-run third inning.
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Game 1: NU 7, LCU 3 / Game 2: LCU 23, NU 7
Records: LCU (10-2, 1-1), NU (2-5, 1-1)
Location: Lubbock, Texas (PlainsCapital Park)
Time of Game: 1:59, 2:25
Weather: Gm 1: 45 (Clear), W-3mph to 3B / Gm 2: 53 (Clear), W-5mph to 3B
Game 1 vs. NU
LCU Highlights:
- Freshman Savannah Wysocki went 2-for-4 and was LCU's only player with a multi-hit game.
- KK Lopez-Liu hit a solo home run for her first home run of the season.
- Freshman Alexa Riggs produced an RBI (1-for-3) with a double for her first collegiate extra-base hit.
- Freshman Taylor Franco pitched four innings in relief and allowed one hit, striking out seven of the 16 batters faced.
Turning Point:
Newman had eight hits by the time they reached their second batter in the top of the fourth inning and led 5-2. Franco came in and did not allow a hit to the first 14 batters she faced. It allowed LCU to close the gap to 5-3, but a two-run seventh inning for Newman was a back-breaker an error on a fielder's choice put-out attempt opened the door for two unearned runs.
How it Happened:
- Lauren Kuhrt led off the game with a triple for LCU's first allowed this season. LCU was able to limit the scoring to one run despite a trio of hits in the first inning, as the Jets left the bases loaded.
- An error in left field on a single with two runners on allowed a pair of unearned runs to score and Newman took a 3-0 lead..
- LCU struggled playing from behind, but had life after KK Lopez-Liu hit a solo home run in the second inning to get LCU on the scoreboard. The Lady Chaps scratched a run across on an error in the third inning and a RBI-double from Riggs in the fourth inning, but the runs matched Newman scoring from the top half of each of the innings.
- A walk, error, and wild pitch opened the top of the seventh inning and led to an RBI-single from Kameron Pope to cap a two-run seventh inning for NU.
Inside the Numbers:
- Chantel Purcella (1-1) recorded the victory allowing two earned runs off seven hits in the complete-game 7.0-inning effort. She forced LCU in 14 fly-outs in the game.
- With Franco allowing a hit 3.2 innings into her relief appearance, her streak of consecutive innings pitched without allowing a hit ended at 12.1 innings.
- Alivia Villarreal had her 10-game hit streak end, which stands as the longest hit streak this season.
- Newman was 6-for-7 getting the leadoff batter aboard, with Kuhrt 3-for-3 completing the task.
- LCU was 1-for-16 with runners on base and 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
- The Lady Chaps record in conference openers all-time dropped to 7-5 overall and 2-4 in the Heartland Conference. LCU also fell to 55-7 all-time in Heartland Conference home games.
Game 2 vs. NU
LCU Highlights:
Turning Point:
Leading 5-0 LCU opened the bottom of the third inning sending 18 consecutive batters to the plate before an out was recorded. In the span of the 18 batters, LCU scored 15 runs, with six scoring on bases-loaded walks. Newman pitcher Lauryn Ogden faced 11 of the Lady Chaps 23 batters that batted in the 18-run inning and she allowed 11 runs (10 earned) off five hits and walked five batters in 0.0 innings pitched.
How it Happened:
- Like the first game, Lopez-Liu opened the LCU scoring, and she did so by an RBI-single in the first inning.
- A pair of runs were walked in during a four-run second inning, which was highlighted by a two-run single by Clemmer with two outs.
- An 18-run inning for the third inning opened the floodgates (summarized below).
- Newman closed the game's scoring with seven unanswered runs over the final two innings. They followed after Franco went 3.0 innings and allowing one hit to 10 batters faced, tossing only 20 pitches.
23 Runs:
- Second-highest mark in program history, behind 24 scored against Cardinal Stritch on Mar. 19, 2008.
- Second-highest mark in Heartland Conference history behind 27 scored by St. Mary's on Apr. 14, 2006.
- Fourth-highest total by a NCAA Division II program this season. LCU now has two of the five highest-scoring games (single team) in NCAA Division II play this season.
- The 23 runs led to 23 RBI, which is a new Heartland Conference single-game record and it marks tied for third for the highest single-game total by a NCAA Division II program this season.
18-run Inning:
- The 18-run inning is the highest scoring inning in LCU program history (LCU has had 16 games in program history in which they have scored at least 18 runs in the game's entirety).
- The inning consisted of 18 runs off 13 hits with one error and two runners left stranded.
- Megan Darling was LCU's lone player to go 2-for-2 in the inning.
- Jordan Wehr had the inning and game's only extra-base hit for LCU and it was a pinch-hit double in her first career at-bat with LCU.
- The 1,2,3,7,8 and 9-spots in the batting order had three plate appearances in the inning.
Inside the Numbers:
- The game's only home run was hit by Newman's Emma Eck.
- LCU scored eight runs in the game off bases-loaded walks. Newman only walked one batter in non-bases-loaded at-bats.
- While Newman was 0-for-0 with the bases loaded, LCU was 9-for-13 with the bases loaded. The hits came from nine different players.
- The Lady Chaps were 16-for-26 (.615) with runners on base and had a 78.9% success rate (15-for-19) scoring the runner from third base with less than two outs.
- Thirteen different Lady Chaps had at least one hit and Thirteen different Lady Chaps had at least one RBI.
Up Next:
LCU is scheduled to host West Texas A&M Tuesday at PlainsCapital Park on the LCU campus (5 p.m. start).
