LUBBOCK, Texas (February 8, 2020) – For the first time since the opening weekend of the 2018 season, the Lubbock Christian baseball team has lost a home series as they fell to St. Mary's 16-7 on Saturday at Hays Field.
 
The Chaps are now 2-3 on the season, falling below .500 for the first time. It is also the first series loss against St. Mary's for Lubbock Christian since April 6-7 of 2018 when the Rattlers worked a four-game sweep of LCU in San Antonio.
 
For the second day in a row, LCU took an early lead and was even leading after five innings of play, but the St. Mary's offense could only be held at bay for so long, and when they finally broke through, they did it in a big way.
 
Larry Leitha got things going for the Chaps in the bottom of the first as head coach Nathan Blackwood shuffled the lineup once again and put the University of New Mexico transfer in the leadoff spot. Leith singled, as did George Mendazona in the two-hole. Then on a Mendazona steal attempt, the Rattler second basemen made an error, allowing Leitha to score and Mendazona to go to third. He came in on a groundout from Skyler Nelson, giving LCU an early 2-0 lead.
 
Aaron Wesman started the game on the mound for the Chaps and got through the first two innings clean, despite walking the leadoff batter each time. StMU's offense finally broke through in the third, however, as Ryan McGown led off with a triple to right center. He came around to score on a Jake Mares single and a walk put another runner on before Johnny Hernandez gave the Rattlers the lead with a three-run blast over the left field wall.
 
The Chaps tied things up again an inning later, when in the bottom of the fourth Gavy Perez-Torres started a two-out rally with a single. AJ Perez singled as well, and both runners came into score when Peyton Maddox hit a double just inside the first base line. The double was LCU's first extra-base hit of the series.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, LCU took the lead one final time, again thanks to a rally led by the top of their order. Leitha reached on an error to start the inning, and Mendazona hit an opposite field double to bring him in. Mendazona then stole third and came in to score on a single from Luis Navarro, but the Chaps were unable to do any more damage in the inning.
 
Lubbock Christian's momentum was short-live, as St. Mary's re-took the lead in the top of the sixth. McGown worked a one out walk to get on base, and then with two outs, the Rattlers rattled off four straight hits, one of which was a double from Keaton Milford. The four runs scored gave them a run they would not relinquish.
 
St. Mary's tacked on a run in the seventh and then put the game out of reach with seven runs in the ninth, including a two-run home run from catcher Scott Short.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.571 | Lubbock Christian greatly improved its numbers with runners in scoring position, batting .571 on Saturday compared to their .162 average in those situations Friday night
5 | The Chaps committed five errors in the loss, which was their most since also committing five on May 12, 2018 against St. Edward's. The last time they had more than five errors was on April 18, 2014 at Oklahoma Christian
.341 | St. Mary's currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with a .341 team batting average (59-173
8 | The Rattlers had eight two-out RBI in the game and hit .412 (7-17) with two outs during the game
.391 | Although LCU was hitting just .231 as a team against lefties coming into the game, they batted .391 against the left-handed Rattler starting pitcher Anthony Chavez
 
NEXT UP
Lubbock Christian will try and salvage a win in the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Hays Field.