LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (3-3, 3-3) at
TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE (5-1, 5-1)
Friday, February 14 – 4 p.m.
Nolan Ryan Field – Kingsville, Texas
 
LEADING OFF
THE Chaparrals are headed for warmer weather, leaving behind the 30s in Lubbock for the for the 50s of Kingsville, where they will take on the Javelinas in a four-game series Friday through Sunday. LCU enters the series with a 3-3 overall record, having dropped two of their three games in the series last weekend against St. Mary's. Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the series with a 5-1 record, having swept Oklahoma Christian to start the season and taking two of three from Cameron last weekend. As a team, the Chaps are hitting .234 this season, led by AJ Perez's .333 average. The pitching staff has an earned run average of 4.92, led by Logan McCrummen's 0.00 earned run average. 
 
THE CHAPARRAL NINE
• Last time Lubbock Christian started a season 3-3 was 2014. They went on to win 39 games that season
• The Chaps are 2-1 on the road so far this season after a 16-8 record away from home in 2019
• TAMUK re-started its baseball program in 1993, but LCU has only faced them twice ever
• Chaps were picked third in the LSC preseason poll with the Javelinas right behind in fourth
• LCU reliever Koi Carrillo has already made four pitching appearances this season, which is first in the LSC
• After not stealing a base in their season-opening series, the Chaps stole 10 last week against StMU
• The Javelinas have scored the second-most runs in the LSC this season with 62 (10.3 per game)
• Lubbock Christian has drawn 31 walks this season, which ranks No. 44 nationally
 
WHEELING AND STEALING
With 10 stolen bases already through the first six games of the season, Lubbock Christian is on pace to more than double their stolen base total from a year ago. So far, LCU has swiped 10 bases on 12 attempts (83.3% success rate). If they continue on that pace, they will steal 83 bases this season on 100 attempts, which would be the most by a Chap team in the least 10 seasons. Larry Leitha is the team leader in steals with three on three attempts.
 
SHUFFLING THE DECK
With a starting lineup almost completely made up of new faces, it could take some time to find the right order for them to go to the plate, as evidenced by the fact that head coach Nathan Blackwood has used the same batting order just twice through the first six games of the season. The matching lineups came in games two and three of the St. Edward's series and featured third basement George Mendazona leading off. Only Luis Navarro (third), Peyton Maddox (eighth) and Edgar Hernandez (ninth) have batted in the same spot for all six games. Mendazona, Leitha and Gavy Perez-Torres have all been used in the leadoff role with Leitha as the most successful, reaching base at a .667 clip when leading off.
 
ROAD SHOW
The Chaps are 2-1 in road games on the young season after posting a 16-8 road record in 2019. Both wins and the loss this year on the road came in the season-opening series at St. Edward's, where LCU hit .242 as a team and held the Hilltoppers to a .207 batting average. AJ Perez has the best road batting average at .444, but Navarro has the best road OBP at .643 and Mendazona has the most total bases away from home with eight. Aaron Weseman, Shandon Herrera and Logan McCrummen all had scoreless outings on the mound at St. Edward's.
 
NEW-LOOK CHAPS
Of the 46 hits LCU's offense has collected so far this season, a whopping 76.1 percent (35) have come from players who were not on the team a season ago, as the Chaps lost all nine of their starting position players from the 2019 roster. Furthermore, 33 of the 53 innings pitched (62 percent) this season have come from hurlers who did not throw for LCU last year. Ty Stephenson has been the most used pitcher, throwing 10 innings across two starts with a 4.50 ERA. Navarro has the top on-base percentage of any newcomer at .519, while Mendazona has the most hits with seven.
 
MORE FRESH FACES
The Chaps also feature new people in both of their assistant coaching roles, with Jermaine Van Buren taking over pitching coach duties in August and Hector Limon taking over hitting coach duties in November. A native of Mississippi, Van Buren bring extensive professional baseball experience to the position, having pitched at the MLB level for both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox as well as a number of other years in the minor league ranks. As a coach he helped build up the Amarillo Baseball Academy as the head pitching instructor and most recently was the pitching coach at New Mexico Military Institute for two seasons. Limon is a former Chap player himself, who was on the 1983 NAIA National Championship team as a freshman. After graduating from LCU, he spent more than 30 years coaching baseball at the high school level in the state of Texas, including most recently at Abernathy High School.
 
HOMEGROWN PRODUCTS
Of the 37 players on the 2020 Lubbock Christian roster, more than one fourth (10) played their high school baseball in Lubbock. Six played right across the street from Hays Field at Lubbock Christian High School, as well as one from Frenship, one from Cooper, one from Coronado and one from Lubbock High. There are another two from the immediate surrounding area, playing their prep ball in New Deal and Shallowater.
 
SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS

• Baseball began competitively at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1926, but was discontinued I 1930 because of the vast distance between TAMUK and other schools competing in the sport. The program was rebooted in the early 1990s with the first season of play in the new era coming in 1993
• Texas A&M-Kingsville ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and No. 4 nationally in walks with 47. Steven Bonuz is the team leader with eight walks
• The Javelinas have hit 15 doubles this season, which ranks second in the LSC and No. 25 nationally. Austin De Leon and Kohl Ullman are the team leaders with three each
• TAMUK is the most recent Lone Star Conference school to reach the NCAA Division II College World Series, which they did in 2018
• The Javelinas lead the nation in sacrifice flies with 10 so far this year. Infielder Giancarlo Servin is the individual national leader with four on his own

 
THE SERIES WITH TAMUK
In the 26 seasons since Texas A&M-Kingsville has started playing baseball again, Lubbock Christian has played against them only twice, with the Javelinas winning both games. The two meetings came on a neutral field in Austin, Texas on the first weekend of play in the 2003 season. On February 1, TAMUK beat LCU 5-3, and on February 2 they came back and beat them 4-3.