LUBBOCK, Texas (April 26, 2019) – Lubbock Christian played a pair of close baseball games on Friday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader and forcing an important rubber game between the conference's top two teams on Saturday.
The Chaps moved to 32-12 with the split and are now 13-4 in Heartland Conference play, leading the Hillcats, who are 12-5 in league play and 28-14 overall, by one game.
GAME ONE
The first seven innings of the day were spent locked in a tight pitcher's duel, as LCU's
Ryan Johnson and RSU's Corey Murphy dueled on the mound.
Johnson blinked first, allowing the only Rogers State run in the top of the fifth. The Hillcats singled to start the inning and advanced the runner to third on a pair of groundouts. RSU leadoff batter Christian Merriweather then came to the plate then singled up the middle to score the run before Johnson ended the inning with a strikeout of Grant Farris.
The run was the only one allowed by Johnson, who pitched his conference-leading seventh complete game. The Canada native struck out nine batters in his seven innings on the mound and lowered his earned run average to a miniscule 2.09.
LCU's offense gave Johnson the lead in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring runs again with two outs. Catcher
Andrew Pratt started the rally with a single through the left side and quickly moved into scoring position on a double from
Will Clark. The pair both came in to score when the next batter,
Andres Negron, singled through the left side.
Johnson made the one-run lead stand up, retiring three straight batters in the seventh after a leadoff walk. It earned him his 12
th straight win, matching the LCU program record set by Steve Hunter.
GAME TWO
Runs came earlier in the nightcap of the doubleheader, but not much more often as the Chaps and Hillcats played another close affair.
Callan Johnson was tabbed as the starter for LCU and gave up a solo home run in the second for the game's first run.
The Chaps got it right back in the bottom of the second, as
Eddy Vasquez singled to drive in
James Hardberger, who had tripled with two outs. RSU tacked on another run in the third and held onto their one-run lead for the next five innings.
LCU finally struck back in the bottom of the eighth, again thanks to their shortstop. Negron came up after
Andrew Pratt and
Drew Austin had grounded out and blasted a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for just his second homer of the year.
Rogers State was able to respond one more time, however, adding a pair of two-out runs of their own in the top of the ninth. The lead allowed the Hillcats to bring in the conference's leading closer, Brock Knoten, to come in and close out the game for his 12
th save of the year.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
115 | Each of LCU's last 10 runs (dating back to Tuesday's win vs. WT) have been scored with two outs and they now have 115 two-out RBI this season
.971 | Lubbock Christian committed three errors on the day, but still hold the conference lead in fielding percentage over Rogers State by one 1000
th of a point
100 | With eight strikeouts in his start,
Ryan Johnson reached the century mark for the season and increased his conference lead (over teammate
Chandler Casey with 81)
20 | RSU stranded 20 baserunners in the doubleheader, including 12 in their 4-2 win
NEXT UP
The Chaps and Hillcats will face off in the series finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Hays Field. It will be "Team Luke Day" at the ballpark, as all proceeds will go to the Team Luke Foundation and Luke Siegel will be on hand to throw out the first pitch.
