LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (7-15, 7-15) at
TARLETON (12-10, 12-10)
Thursday, May 12 – 2 p.m. (DH)
Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex – Stephenville, Texas
 
LEADING OFF
It's back out on the road this weekend for the Lubbock Christian baseball team as they look to bounce back from a series loss at home against UT Tyler and sit eight games below .500 for the year. They will travel to Stephenville, Texas to take on a Tarleton team playing its last season at the Division II level, with the school having announced it will move to Division I this summer. The Chaps have actually been better away from home this season, winning five of their seven games there, despite a .234 road batting average, which is seven points lower than their overall batting average of .241. The Texans have been better on their own field, going 7-4 but splitting two of their three home series.
 
THE CHAPARRAL NINE
• Lubbock Christian and Tarleton are meeting for the first time since 2017
• LCU ranks No. 6 nationally and No. 4 in the Lone Start Conference with 118 walks drawn this season
• TSU coach Aaron Meade is in his first year at the school after four seasons as an assistant at Pitsburg St.
• Two Chaps hit their first home runs of the season against UTT and the team now has nine this year
• Lubbock Christian ranks No. 11 nationally and second in the LSC with 19 double plays this season
• The Chaps have stolen 24 bases already this year, which is just two less than they stole in all of 2019
• Texan Blake Burns is the Lone Star Conference leader in batting average at .481
• Chap pitching staff ERA on the road is 3.59, two runs lower than their overall ERA of 5.60
 
ALMOST HALFWAY THERE
In the third game of this upcoming series against Tarleton, the Lubbock Christian baseball team will hit the mid-point of the 2020 season, with another 25 games over six series left before postseason play begins. The Chaps have gone 7-15 in the first 22 games, with a 2-9 record at home and a 5-6 record away from Hays Field. George Mendazona has had the best first half of any Chap hitter, hitting .310 with four doubles, two triples and two home runs for a .476 slugging percentage. Larry Leitha's .494 slugging percentage actually leads the team, while his batting average of .296 is behind Mendazona. Meanwhile, Ty Stephenson has been the ace of the pitching staff with a 3.76 ERA in 38.1 innings on the mound, which is the second-most in the Lone Star Conference.
 
WALK LIKE A MAN
With 27 walks drawn in the four-game series against UT Tyler, the Chaps moved up to No. 6 nationally and No. 4 in their own conference in that category. They have drawn 118 so far this season, which is 31 behind the national leader Tusculum, but just 18 behind the conference leader Angelo State. LCU's single-game high for walks in this season is 11, which they have done twice. They are currently on pace for 268 walks as a team this season, which would be the highest total of the Chaps' D-II era. LCU's most walks in a season in the last 10 years came in 2011 when they drew 326. Catcher Luis Navarro has drawn the most walks with 21 (No. 9 nationally), but five other LCU players have reached the double-digit mark in that category.
 
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Lubbock Christian has been one of the best teams in the conference and the nation this season at turning the double play, ranking No. 2 among the 14 LSC teams and No. 11 among the 258 Division II teams. The Chaps have turned 18 overall this year, including three in their most recent series against UT Tyler. LCU's pitching staff is ground ball heavy, with 191 groundouts to 156 flyouts this season, but most of that difference can be attributed to Stephenson, who has gotten 38 more groundouts than he has flyouts. Three of the double plays have come with Stephenson on the mound, with three also coming from both Jaden Fowler and Cade Acrey.
 
STILL THE ONE
When the Chaps lost 4-3 in game three of the series against UT Tyler it was the seventh one-run game of the season for LCU and dropped them to 1-6 in those contests. Their only win by one run this season came in the series finale against St. Mary's on February 9, which they won by a score of 2-1. Last season, the Chaps played .500 ball in one-run games at 6-6, but they had a winning record in one-run games in 2018 at 8-4.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The four-game series with the Texans will be road games No. 12-15 for the Chaps this season. They have found more success on the road so far this season than on their own field, going 5-6 in away games and winning series against St. Edward's and Texas A&M-International. LCU is batting worse on the road (.234) than they are overall (.241), but their staff ERA is much better away from home (3.59) than it is overall (5.60). Jaxon Shirley has the best road batting average at .300, while Stephenson's 0.81 ERA in road games leads the pitching staff.
 
NEW-LOOK CHAPS
Of the 167 hits LCU's offense has collected so far this season, a whopping 83.2 percent (139) 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, 122 and a third of the 181 and two thirds innings pitched (67.3 percent) this season have come from hurlers who did not throw for LCU last year. Stephenson has been the most used pitcher, throwing 38.1 innings across six starts with a 3.476ERA. Newcomers Grant Griffin, George Mendazona and Leitha all have batting averages over the .290 mark.
 
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 TEXANS

• Tarleton announced in September that the school's athletic department will begin competing at the NCAA Division I level for the 2020 school year. They will join the Western Athletic Conference in every sport except football, where they will be an independent
• Texan infielder Blake Burns currently leads the nation in hits (38), ranks No. 4 nationally in RBI (31) and is fifth nationally in total bases (67). He is batting an LSC-leading .481 so far this year
• TSU has a strong offense with the third-best team batting average in the LSC at .316 and 190 runs scored, but their pitching staff has an ERA of 6.72, which has led to their 12-10 overall record
• The Texans lead the nation in hit-by-pitches with 49 this season, which is six more than the second-place team, Eastern New Mexico. Outfielder Wade Raburn has been hit 10 times to lead the team and rank No. 6 nationally
• Tarleton currently sits in a tie for fifth in the Lone Star Conference with St. Mary's, one game back of the fourth place team Arkansas-Fort Smith

 
THE SERIES WITH TARLETON
Lubbock Christian and Tarleton State first met on the diamond in 1988, with the two teams planning eight games (four doubleheaders) in a span of just eight days. They have met another 15 times since then, with LCU leading the all-time series 17-6. The last meeting between the two was a three-game series in Stephenville in 2017 that broke a 20-year hiatus in the series. LCU took three of the four games in that 2017 series.