LUBBOCK, Texas (May 1, 2021) – The month of May did not start out the way the Lubbock Christian University baseball team wanted it to, with UT Tyler taking game two 9-4 and clinching the series win on Saturday at Hays Field.
 
The Patriots scored early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and they scored often, plating runs in six of the nine innings, to cruise to the win even though the Chaps matched them in hits at nine apiece.
 
Kyle McShaffry had the big swing in the first inning, plating two UTT runs in the top half with an RBI single. LCU got one back in the bottom half of the inning when Edgar Hernandez scored on a double play groundout by Luis Navarro, but the Patriots never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
 
UTT scored one more in the second, two more in the third and one more in the fourth to build the lead out to 6-1 before starting pitcher Jacob Blatney surrendered another run.
 
Larry Leitha did all the damage by himself this time, crushing a no-doubt home run over the wall in left center.
 
Now facing Tyler Hardwick, who relieved Chap starter Owen Woodward, the Patriots plated two more runs in the fifth inning to push the lead back out to six runs. Hardwick was replaced by Peyton Hutson, who got out of the fifth with no further damage, escaping a bases-loaded jam.
 
Hutson then put up the first the first zero by any Lubbock Christian pitcher in the sixth inning, working around a one-out walk with back-to-back strikeouts. UT Tyler scored their ninth and final run of the game in the seventh, but it was unearned.
 
Another zero was put up by Hutson in the eighth, and LCU got two run in the bottom of the inning. Jaxson Edward, who came in to catch defensively for Navarro, doubled to lead off and was driven in when Leitha blasted his second home run of the game, this time clearing the batter's eye in center field.
 
The Patriots went down in order in the ninth, leading the Chap offense to their final chance in the bottom of the ninth. Keith Long sat LCU down in order in the frame to end the game.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
27 | With an infield single in the bottom of the fifth, Luis Navarro extended his hitting streak to 27 straight games
.192 | The score could have ended up a lot more lopsided if not for the Chap pitchers bearing down with runners on base and held the Patriots to just a .192 average (5-26) with runners on
5 | LCU pitchers hit five batters in the game, which was one off matching their season high. They have now hit 63 batters overall this year
.667 | Part of the reason the Patriots were able to score in so many innings was that they put their leadoff batter on six times in nine chances for a .667 on-base percentage
55.9 | Chap hurlers threw 188 pitches, 105 of which were for strikes for a strike percentage of 55.9
 
NEXT UP
Lubbock Christian will try and salvage a win in the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday at