LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (3-12, 3-12) at
TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL (5-10, 5-10)
Saturday, February 29 – 1 p.m. (DH)
Jorge Haynes Field – Laredo, Texas
 
LEADING OFF
It's Leap Day, but down in south Texas the Lubbock Christian baseball team has work to be done, looking to even the series and then take a lead with a pair of wins in today's doubleheader against Texas A&M International. The Chaps got behind the eight-ball for the fourth straight series by losing in the opener on Friday afternoon They got a strong nine shutout innings in the opener from their starting pitcher Ty Stephenson but were unable to score themselves, and TAMIU ended up winning despite not recording a hit with runners on base. LCU will need the bats to wake up after just five hits on Friday, while still maintaining the strong work ion the mound.
 
STARTING PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game One
 
LCU – Left-hander Armando Valle will be on the mound for the Chaps, looking to bounce back from his rough outing last weekend against Angelo State in which he allowed nine runs in four and a third inning. For the season, Valle has a 7.27 earned run average in 17 and a third innings on the mound. He has 22 strikeouts, but opponents are hitting .338 against him.
 
TAMIU – The Dustdevils will most likely send Abanny Garcia to the mound in game one of the doubleheader. Garcia has made four appearances this year, three of which were starts. He has a 3.47 earned run average in 23 and a third innings on the mound. He is second on the team with 21 strikeouts and opponents are batting just .212 against him.
 
Game Two
 
LCU – Aaron Weseman will get the ball for Lubbock Christian in the second half, as the lefty makes his fifth start of the year. Weseman has an ERA of 6.06 this year in 16 and a third innings on the mound, having allowed 14 hits in that time. He has just eight strikeouts, but opponents are batting .233 against him. Weseman gave up eight runs in just an inning and two thirds in his last start against Angelo State, but only three of those runs were earned.
 
TAMIU – A senior from Taylor, Texas, Justin Rumley will take the mound for Texas A&M International in the second game. Rumley has an ERA over five in five appearances, two of which are starts. He has only spent 12 and a third innings on the mound this year, and seven of those came last weekend as he pitched a complete game, allowing just one run on two hits with six strikeouts against Cameron.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7/11 | Both George Mendazona (seven games) and Larry Leitha (11 games) saw hit streaks come to an end in the first game of the series. Both did reach base though, extending those streaks to nine games and 12 games, respectively
11.42 | Game one starter Armando Valle has the highest strikeouts per nine innings of any LCU pitcher at 11.42. His strikeout to walk ratio is 1.7
.221 | LCU had just one hit in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the loss Friday, dropping their season batting average to .221 in those situations
0.00 | Jaden Fowler worked another two scoreless innings in the opener, increasing his season total to seven without having allowed a run
13 | Friday's game was the longest for Lubbock Christian by innings played since May 12, 2017 when they lost 4-3 to Arkansas-Fort Smith at the Heartland Conference Tournament
1-5 | The Chaps are now 1-5 this season in one-run ballgames. Their only win was 2-1 against St. Mary's on February 9