LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (4-8, 3-6 LSC) vs.
TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL (11-1, 7-1 LSC)
Friday, March 12 – 1 p.m.
Jorge Haynes Field – Laredo, Texas
 
LEADING OFF
It wasn't a series win, but Lubbock Christian University still ended things on a high note against Angelo State, winning 12-6 in the series finale to stop a five-game losing streak. All told, the Chaps played pretty well against the No. 1 team in the nation, even out-hitting them 13-7 in game two's loss. LCU will try and build on that success at the plate this weekend as they head back out on the road for a three-game series against Texas A&M-International, who sits just above LCU in the Lone Star Conference standings.  The Chaps will be looking to win back-to-back games for just the second time this season and win three or more in a row for the first time in 2021.
 
THE CHAPARRAL NINE

• Lubbock Christian is traveling to Laredo for the second-straight year after winning 3 of 4 there in 2020
• Texas A&M International has the fifth-worst batting average in the LSC at .232
• The Chap bullpen posted an ERA of 1.32 in 13.2 innings of work against Angelo State last weekend
• LCU has drawn 39 walks this season and has a team on-base percentage of .349
• Head Coach Nathan Blackwood needs 27 wins to become the winningest coach in LCU history
• The Lubbock Christian 2021 schedule features 16 road contests and 21 to be played at home
• LCU hit .324 in their most recent series and the team is batting .266 on the season
• TAMIU has lost four of its last six games, including two to Oklahoma Christian and two to St. Mary's

 
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Chaps have done a good job of getting on opposing pitchers early, scoring in the first inning of six of their 12 games this season. Overall, they have scored 15 runs in the first inning, which is the most of any inning. As a team, they are slugging .582 in the opening frame, collecting five doubles, one triple and two home runs. Colin Gordon has scored the most runs in the first inning with five, as he has batted second in 11 games this year (third once). Nolan Machibroda leads the team with four first-inning RBI.
 
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
Lubbock Christian's bullpen was excellent in their most recent three games against No. 1-ranked Angelo State, posting an ERA of 1.32 and holding the Rams to a .213 batting average in 13.2 innings of work. Owen Woodward (4.0 IP), Peyton Hutson (3.0 IP) and Ivan Castro (1.0 IP) all appeared without allowing a run. For the season, LCU's bullpen has posted an ERA of 4.09 in 44.0 innings of work, striking out 40 batters and holding opponents to a .256 batting average. Woodward has been the most dominant reliever, allowing just one unearned run in 10.2 innings on the mound with seven strikeouts.
 
BY LAND OR BY… AIR
After leaning more heavily on the fly ball to get outs early in the season, things have evened out for the Lubbock Christian pitching staff. At this point in the year, they have 95 fly ball outs and 88 ground ball outs for a flyout to groundout ratio of 1.1. Left-hander Armando Valle leans most heavily on the fly ball, getting 21 outs in the air and just 11 on the ground (along with a team-leading 21 strikeouts), while Ty Stephenson is an extreme ground ball pitcher with 18 on the ground, two in the air and eight via the swing-and-miss. The rest of the Chap staff has been fairly even in the way they get their outs.
 
HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME
It's a category you wouldn't want to rank No. 2 in the nation in, but LCU does have the second-most hit batters in all of NCAA Division II this year with 33. They trail only Union (TN), who has hit 37 batters in 13 games. Woodward leads the team with eight hit batters and Koi Carrillo is second with five. Only Steven Dennis (2.0 IP) and Cristian Garcia (1.2 IP) have appeared on the mound this season without hitting at least one opposing batter.
 
POWER SURGE
In the series against ASU, Lubbock Christian's offense posted a slugging percentage of .459 with eight doubles, two triples and one home run. For the season, they are slugging .436, which is the fifth-best mark in the Lone Star Conference. That mark includes 12 home runs, which has already surpassed their total of 10 in 24 games a season ago. Colin Gordon's .617 slugging percentage leads the team, as the senior has hit six doubles, two triples and one home run. Mason Donohoe (.579), Luis Navarro (.564) and Eduardo Acosta (.532) all have their slugging percentage above the .500 mark as well.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Having played just three home games so far this season, the Chaparrals have become adept at playing on the road. They are 2-4 in true road games in 2021 and 3-6 when including the three neutral site games they played in Houston to start the season. All three of their wins away from home have come against Arkansas-Fort Smith. As a team, they have hit .283 in true road games and posted an ERA of 5.83. George Mendazona has the best batting average in road games, hitting .467 there (7-15) with a double and two home runs.
 
NO ONE-HIT WONDERS
Lubbock Christian has already had 32 different multi-hit performances from 12 different players this season, after posting only 30 in 24 games a year ago. Acosta, Gordon and Navarro lead the way with five multi-hit games apiece, and Navarro is the only player with a four-hit game this year (3/6 vs. ASU). Those three players have all had at least one three-hit game, as have Donohoe and Mendazona.
 
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 3,195 games throughout all those years, posting an overall program record of 2,148 wins and 1,053 losses in that time. Head coach Nathan Blackwood has been leading the program for 963 of those games, going 669-294. He needs 27 wins to surpass Larry Hays and become the all-time winningest coach in program history.
 
SCOUTING THE DUSTDEVILS

• Texas A&M International enters the series with a 5-10 record, but their only series win came against UT Permian Basin to start the season
• The Dustdevil pitching staff is the third-worst in the LSC so far this year, posting an ERA of 6.50 in 127.1 innings of work. Opponents are batting .287 against them
• Jerry Villareal leads the TAMIU offense with a .370 batting average as well as a .609 slugging percentage that is the 13^th-best in the conference. Ronnie Bailey is the only other player on the roster hitting above .300
• TAMIU has been run-ruled three times this season – once against UT Tyler (13-3), once against Texas A&M-Kingsville (13-0) and once against Oklahoma Christian (19-1)
• Texas A&M International head coach Phillip Middleton is in his first year leading the program after previously serving as the assistant coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville, where he was the assistant coach for seven years

 
THE SERIES WITH THE DUSTDEVILS
Lubbock Christian and Texas A&M International have been meeting on the diamond every year since 2014, when the Chaps joined the Heartland Conference, and LCU leads the all-time series 24-6. The only time the Chaps lost a series to the Dustdevils was in 2019, when TAMIU took two of three games in a high-scoring series in Laredo.