LUBBOCK, Texas (March 14, 2022) – Lubbock Christian University completed its second four-game sweep of the 2022 season on Monday, defeating Texas A&M-International 12-8 in the series finale at Hays Field.
 
The Chaps (17-5, 15-5 LSC) reached double-digits in hits for the fourth straight game, collecting 16 in the series finale on the way to their 12 runs. Four of those hits left the yard, with Larry Leitha, Mason Donohoe, Will Buchholz and George Mendazona all homering.
 
Even with 20 runs combined in the game, both offenses were slow to start. Armando Valle worked a pair of scoreless frames to start the game and LCU started out with just a single run in the bottom of the first. Mendazona lined a double into left field and scored when Luis Navarro followed up with a single.
 
TAMIU got half of their runs in the top of the third inning and all of them came after two quick outs. The first batter to reach did so via the walk, and the next three straight were all hit by pitches, pushing in a run to tie the game. Then Daniel Hernandez came to the plate and cleared the bases with a double to the warning track, putting his team on top 4-1. Valle finally got a strikeout of Brock Hargens to end the frame.
 
The Dustdevil lead lasted all of three batters into the bottom of the third. Mendazona reached again, this time with a single, and Navarro followed with a single of his own. Leitha came to the plate and got ahead 2-0 before blasting a home run off the scoreboard in right center to tie the game.
 
LCU then immediately took the lead, as Donohoe followed up Leitha's bomb with one of his own, crushing it down the line in right just inside the foul pole. One batter later, Buchholz kept the home run party going with a solo shot to right center.
 
The final homer of the game came from Mendazona in the next inning, with another ball driven to right field to score himself and Eduardo Acosta. Jaxson Edwards singled in another run before the inning was finished.
 
Texas A&M International continued to stay in the game though, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth to keep within striking distance. Brendan Anderson was the pitcher on the mound by the fifth inning who gave up the run, but he bounced back and put up a zero in the sixth.
 
The Chaps continued adding runs too, scoring two in the fifth on an Acosta triple and Mendazona sac fly and adding another in the sixth on a sac fly from Edwards. Despite a couple more doubles in the seventh and eighth, LCU was held scoreless in those frames.
 
Luckily, the Lubbock Christian relievers were nails, as Colton Brown pitched a scoreless eighth and Koi Carrillo closed out the game in the ninth with no runs allowed.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.619 | Five doubles, four home runs and a triple on the day raised LCU's already league-leading slugging percentage to .619. The next closest LSC team (West Texas A&M) is a slugging a distant .525
7 | Larry Leitha's opposite field home run to tie the game in the third was his seventh of the season, keeping him tied for the league lead in that category
.645 | Lubbock Christian pitchers struggled to get the leadoff man for the Dustdevils throughout the weekend, allowing them to reach in 20 of 31 chances for a .645 on-base percentage
 
NEXT UP
It's a short week for the Chaps, who have already adjusted the schedule for this next weekend's four-game series at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The four-game set will be played Thursday through Saturday of this week, as both institutions are on spring break this week.