LAREDO, Texas (March 12, 2021) – Lubbock Christian University hit four home runs early to take a lead and used clutch pitching and a timely two-out hit to hold on and win Friday's series-opener against Texas A&M International 7-4.
 
The Chaps have now won two straight games and are 5-8 this season, including a 4-6 record in Lone Star Conference play. They will try and win a third straight game for the first time all season at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Eduardo Acosta got the game started off for the Chaps about as well as they could have, crushing a solo shot over the left field wall. It was the third home run of the season for Acosta, giving him the team lead, but he wasn't done yet.
 
Working with the lead before he ever took the mound, Chap starting pitcher Shandon Herrera went to work, sitting down the Dustdevils in order to start the game. His offense gave him another run to work with in the bottom of the third, as Luis Navarro homered to straight-away center for a 2-0 LCU lead.
 
Larry Leitha hit a third solo shot to lead off the fourth, giving the senior his first extra-base hit of the year, and Acosta clobbered a ball over the wall again in the top of the fifth.
 
While Chap hits were landing over the wall left and right, Herrera wasn't giving many up to the Dustdevils. Herrera gave up just one knock through the first five innings of work. He gave up another hit in the sixth, but stranded the runner at third.
 
To start the seventh, TAMIU finally got their offense going, getting an infield single to start the frame. Herrera bounced back with a strikeout, but it would be the last out he recorded as the Dustdevils quickly loaded the bases and he was lifted for Peyton Hutson. All told though, it was a great outing for Herrera, who went 6.1 innings and had a career-high 11 strikeouts.
 
TAMIU pushed across all three runners Herrera put on base to pull within one, but Hutson induced a pop out and a fly out to keep the Chaps on top.
 
A single from Trevor Andrus and a double from Nolan Machibroda to add an insurance run, which proved important in the bottom of the frame. Hutson ran into trouble with two outs, loading the bases and leaving the game for Cade Acrey, who made the clutch pitch to get an out an end the inning.
 
In the top of the ninth, it was LCU's turn to load the bases with a hit-by-pitch and a pair of walks. Leitha then came through in the clutch, pushing a single through the left side to score two more insurance runs.
 
Acrey closed out the win and got the first save by any LCU pitcher this season by sitting the Dustdevils down in order in the ninth.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4 | LCU clobbered four home runs in a single game for the first time since April 19, 2019, which was also against TAMIU. The last time they hit more than four was March 29, 2019 against Newman when they had six.
.381 | Navarro had one hit and a pair of walks in five trips to the plate, raising his season on-base percentage to the .519 mark
26 | Chap head coach Nathan Blackwood is now 26 wins away from surpassing Larry Hays to become the program's all-time leader in that category
.308 | LCU got clutch hitting in the win, batting .308 with two outs, despite just a .235 batting average in the game overall
.635 | With two home runs in the game, Acosta has now overtake the team lead in slugging percentage at .635