No. 4 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (32-12, 13-4)
vs. ST. MARY'S (29-18, 9-9)
May 3 – 3 P.M. (DH)
Hays Field (Lubbock, Texas)
 
LEADING OFF
The regular season comes to a close this weekend for Division II baseball teams around the country, and that includes Lubbock Christian and their opponent, St. Mary's. The Chaps come into the series needing one win to clinch at least a share of the Heartland Conference regular season title, looking to win it for the second time in three years. St. Mary's has a lot to play for as well, though, currently slotted fourth in the Heartland standings and needing to hold that spot to reach the conference postseason tournament. These two teams already faced off once this season as the Chaps took two of three from the Rattlers in San Antonio in March.
 
THE CHAPARRAL NINE
• Lubbock Christian has the seventh best slugging percentage in all of Division II at .533
• LCU is ranked in all three D-II National Polls: Perfect Game - 4, CBN - 19, NCBWA - 23
• Outfielder Hill Alexander ranks 14th nationally and leads the conference with 128 total bases
• Chaps and Rattlers have evenly split their last 10 meetings with five wins each
• Ryan Johnson's 12 victories are the most in all of Division II
• Chaps were slotted at No. 3 in the season's most recent South Central Regional Poll on May 1
• LCU starting pitchers have an earned run average of 2.84
• Andrew Pratt's 13 home runs lead the Heartland and rank No. 25 nationally
 
HEARTLAND FINALE
This weekend will mark the end of an era for both Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's, as it is the last Heartland Conference series ever for the two teams. The conference as a whole will be wrapping up its last games and will merge with the Lone Star Conference this summer. LCU joined the Heartland starting in 2014 and immediately finished in first place that season. The Chaps followed with a conference regular-season championship in 2017. The Chaps are 13-4 in conference play this season and can clinch at least a share of this year's conference title with one win this weekend. In their six years of Heartland Conference play, Lubbock Christian has played 151 games with a 106-45 (.701) record.
 
SENIOR SERIES
There are 15 seniors on this year's Lubbock Christian baseball team who will all be playing the last series of their careers at Hays Field this weekend. This year's graduating class includes Eddy Vasquez, Chase Whetsel, Braden Hayward, Nathan Dockery, Will Clark, Callan Johnson, Andres Negron, Hill Alexander, Ricky Contreras, Ryan Johnson, Andrew Pratt, Drew Austin, Reagan Lucia, James Hardberger and Chandler Casey. The group will be honored on the field 20 minutes prior to Saturday's 1 p.m. season finale.
 
AWARD CENTRAL
For the fifth time this season, a Chaparral player was selected as the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the week when Chandler Casey was named the winner earlier this week. Casey started against regional foe West Texas A&M and dominated the Buffs pitching a complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win for the Chaps. The Lubbock native allowed only three hits and came just one short of his career-high with 11 strikeouts during his nine-inning outing. It was his fourth conference weekly award of the season. The senior followed it up by also winning the NCBWA's South Central Region Pitcher of the Week award, marking the third time this season he has been recognized regionally.
 
TWO DOWN
A big reason for Lubbock Christian's offensive success this season has been their ability to hit the ball and drive in runs with two outs. As a team, the Chaps hit .322 (165-512) even when the opposing team has gotten to two outs. They have also driven in 117 two-out runs, which is roughly one third of their season total (354). Outfielder Keaton Greenwalt has been the team's best hitter with two outs, batting .397 in those situations, but Peyton Maddox, who is mostly used as a pinch hitter/runner is also 5-7 (.714) in his limited two-out opportunities. Andrew Pratt leads in the two-out RBI category, driving in 23 runs in that situation.
 
FIRST GUY ON
More than 40 percent of the time, the Lubbock Christian offense starts off the inning the way any baseball team wants to, by getting their leadoff batter on. In 360 chances this season, LCU leadoff batters have been successful at reaching base 156 times for a .433 success rate. Keaton Andrew Pratt never leads off the game but has led off innings 34 times this season and reached base in 17 of those opportunities for a team-leading .500 OBP. Chase Whetsel usually bats in the one-hole and is the first batter of the game for the Chaps, reaching base at a .403 clip in 65 leadoff opportunities. Whetsel also has a team-leading five leadoff home runs, and the Chaps have hit 17 leadoff bombs altogether.
 
CLEAN LIVING
LCU currently leads the conference and ranks No. 19 in all of Division II with a team fielding percentage of .972. The Chaps have committed just 44 errors this season and earlier this season had a streak of 198 outs recorded without an error that stretched over nine games. The team's fielding is greatly improved from last season, when the Chaps committed 71 errors in just 54 games. If this year's team were to continue on at its current pace of committing errors, it would not be until the 73rd game of the season that they committed their 71st error. Two LCU players, Keaton Greenwalt and Ryan Rijo, have not committed any errors yet this year.
 
STRENGTH IN STARTERS
A big key to the success of the LCU baseball team throughout the season has been its starting pitching. Ryan Johnson, Callan Johnson, Ricky Contreras, Nathan Dockery, Chandler Casey, Logan McCrummen and Shandon Herrera have all been tasked with beginning games on the mound this season, and overall, the group has posted an astonishing ERA of just 2.84. The six starters have struck out 282 batters while walking just 112 over 278.2 innings pitched and thrown 16 complete games while limiting opponents to just a .216 batting average.
 
FRIENDLY CONFINES
All seven of the games left on the schedule this season will be played at home for the Chaps. Originally dedicated on April 29, 1978 as Chaparral Stadium, the complex was renamed Hays Field in 1999 to honor the L.D., Pearl, Larry, and Daren Hays families for their dedication and commitment to the ideals and values of Lubbock Christian University. LCU is 15-3 at home this season and is 116-33 in their own ballpark since the start of the 2014 season.
 
MULTI-HOMER PERFORMANCES
Through the first 42 games of the season, five different Chaparral batters have already delivered with single game, multi-homer performances. Outfielder/Designated hitter Will Clark was the most recent to do it, homering twice against TAMIU on 4/19. First basemen James Hardberger was the first to do it with a pair of four-baggers on 2/3 vs. Missouri Southern St. Two different players had multi-homer games at the same time on 2/11, as both Keaton Greenwalt and Chase Whetsel homered twice against Cameron on 2/11. Andrew Pratt has three multi-homer games, hitting two on both 3/1 vs. St. Mary's and 3/8 vs. St. Edward's and smashing three homers against Newman on 3/29. Hill Alexander had multi-homer games on 4/5 against Oklahoma Christian and against St. Edward's on 3/9.
 
IN THE POLLS
Lubbock Christian was recognized in all three of the most recent Division II polls, as well as the NCAA regional rankings. The Chaps' highest ranking came from Perfect Game, where sit in the No. 4 spot. LCU also made the top 25 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll, where they are No. 19 and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll, where they were slotted at No. 23. In the South Central Regional rankings, which will determine whether or not LCU reaches the NCAA Postseason Tournament, the Chaps were slotted at No. 3 for the second straight week.  
 
HOMEGROWN PRODUCTS
Of the 33 players on the Lubbock Christian University baseball team this season, exactly one third (11) played high school baseball in Lubbock. Another three players on the 2019 of LCU's baseball team are from the surrounding area of Lubbock, including Idalou, New Deal and Shallowater.
 
2000 AND COUNTING
Since the inception of LCU's baseball program in 1971, the Chaparrals have been one of the best baseball teams at whatever level they were playing. Lubbock Christian has played 3,119 games throughout all those years, posting an overall program record of 2,105 wins and 1,014 losses in that time.
 
COACHING CONSISTENCY
Lubbock Christian is bringing back the same three main coaches that have been with the team each of the last six seasons. Pitching coach Justin Sundlie, who played catcher at LCU in 2005 and 2006, is the newbie of the group, entering his seventh season with the Chaps, while head coach Nathan Blackwood and hitting coach Bob Fannin have been leading the program for the last 15 seasons. Together, the group has led LCU to a pair of first place finishes in the Heartland Conference, two NCAA South Central Regional appearances and a 247-119 (.667) won-loss record.
 
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS

• StMU head coach Charlie Migl is a St. Mary's graduate and is in his 33^rd season coaching the Rattlers (1208-568 in that time)
• Rattlers lead the Heartland Conference and rank 49^th nationally with 79 stolen bases
• Pitcher Mason Minster has posted a WHIP of 1.02 in 53.2 innings on the mound, leading the conference in that category
• St. Mary's has won four straight games coming into the weekend, including a series sweep of Oklahoma Christian a week ago
• Freshman infielder Jake Mares is second in the conference with 19 stolen bases