Lubbock Christian (22-16, 20-16 LSC) at
St. Edward's (30-7, 28-7 LSC)
April 14-16 – Lucian Hamilton Field - Austin, Texas
 
WARMING UP
For the second time this season, Lubbock Christian will match up with a team ranked in the top five nationally, as they head on the road for a four-game series against No. 4 St. Edward's. The Hilltoppers are currently in second place in the Lone Star Conference, three spots ahead of the Chaps, so a series win on the road would help a lot for LCU's conference tournament seeding. Lubbock Christian has won four of its last five contests, including a series win over a tough Texas A&M-Kingsville squad last weekend.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Lubbock Christian is tied for first in the nation with eight complete games tossed by its pitching staff this season. Only four other NCAA Division II teams have matched that number
• St. Edward's has won 13 out of its last 14 games, with just one loss to St. Mary's in that stretch
• The Chaps are tied for the Lone Star Conference lead with 17 triples
• LCU has struck out just 250 times tis year as a team, which is the sixth-fewest in the conference
• The Hilltoppers have a solid pitching staff, posting jus ta 4.38 ERA on the year, which is the second-best in the league

 
MIDWEEK MATCHUP
Lubbock Christian is facing a quick turnaround from their last time on the diamond, as they took on Wayland Baptist for a midweek battle on Tuesday at Hays Field. The Chaps scored early and often, plating 11 runs and holding off a late rally by the Pioneers to win by two. Freshman Logan Moore got the start in the game, making his first collegiate appearance, and pitched two strong innings to get the win. Nate Van Maanen and Brevin McCool both homered in the LCU win.
 
STARTING STRONG
The starting rotation had one major change this past weekend, as center fielder Chris Shull took the mound in game one. Shull had a strong first pitching outing, allowing just one earned run and striking out four in three innings, and the rest of the Chaparral starting pitchers followed suit. In the final three contests of the series, LCU did not use a relief pitcher, getting complete games from Ayden Alger, Ryan Markwardt and Andrew Duran. Alger pitched a gem, allowing just one earned run in a 2-1 victory. Markwardt struggled some early but bounced back and gave his team a chance in a one run loss. Duran allowed only three earned runs in the finale and struck out six. The four combined for a 3.00 ERA in 24 innings of work with a .283 opponent's batting average.
 
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
Chap pitchers have also been helped out by the guys behind the plate, with LCU catchers recording 23 caught stealings so far this year – tied for the most in the LSC. Jarred Gibson, Bo Hogeboom and Jaxson Edwards have split time at catcher with Gibson getting most of the starts. They have allowed stolen bases at just a 67.6 percent clip, and Gibson caught four runners stealing last weekend against Texas A&M-Kingsville, and Hogeboom picked off another. Edwards caught one on Tuesday. Gibson has now gunned down 12 runners, followed by Edwards with five and Hogeboom with four.
 
HARD-HITTING STATS
Heading to their final few weeks in the 2023 regular season, Lubbock Christian boasts the fourth-best offense in the league, averaging 8.9 runs per game. The Chaps rank in the top 25 nationally in batting average (No. 10), doubles (No. 9), hits (No. 16), sacrifice flies (No. 15), slugging percentage (No. 6) and triples (No. 3). Leading the LCU offense is Eduardo Acosta, who is third in the league with a .442 batting average. Carson Ogilvie also ranks third in the LSC in runs scored with 53, and Nate Van Maanen is tied for third with 49 RBI, followed closely by Shull's 48. Shull is also one of just eight total LSC players to have reached the double-digit homer mark so far this season.
 
SOLO SHOTS
With five home runs in the series finale against TAMUK and two on Tuesday, LCU now has 47 on the season, the third-most in the conference and the 26th most in all of Division II. Just over half of those, however, have come without any runners on base. In the five-homer game against the Javelinas, only Van Maanen's homer came with a runner on base. Six of Shull's 10 home runs have been solo shots, and Gibson has cleared the wall seven times but only twice with runners on.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
This weekend will mark the fifth road series of the season from the Chaps, who are 9-7 away from home this year. The pitching staff has been more than two full runs better on the road than they have at home, posting a 6.06 ERA away from Hays Field compared to an 8.37 mark at the friendly confines. The offense, on the other hand, has struggled on the road with a .292 batting average, compared to their .367 mark at Hays Field. The Hilltoppers play at Lucian-Hamilton Field, which was built in 1968.
 
STREAKS AND MULTIS
Only one Chaparral – Brevin McCool – currently has a reached base streak in the double-digits, having done so in 11 straight games. Van Maanen has the longest hitting streak, collecting at least one in each of the last seven games. Ogilvie, despite being third on the team with a .403 batting average, leads the team in multi-hit games with 20. Shull is the team leader in multi-RBI games with 13.
 
A DEEPER LOOK
For the baseball stat nerds out there, this week we're going to look at the BABIP of the LCU baseball team. That stands for Batting Average on Balls In Play. It's one of the simpler "modern" stats, because all it does is focus on plays where the opposing defense is involved (removing home runs and strikeouts). Some hitters are just particularly good at hitting the ball hard when they put it in play. The Chaps have a BABIP of .381, much higher than their .335 overall average, meaning when they, hit the ball, they hit it hard. Ogilvie leads the team in BABIP at .478, with Acosta (.460) and Shull (.455) not far behind.
 
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

• SEU's ranks in the top half of the league. Their .318 batting average is the fifth-best and their .433 on-base percentage ranks fourth
• Head Coach Bryan Faulds is in his second season leading the Hilltoppers after several years of serving as an assistant coach for the team
• Opponents are hitting just .255 against the St. Edward's pitching staff
• Although they have not lost a series yet this year, SEU split with West Texas A&M at home and Eastern New Mexico on the road
• St. Edward's has been good at limiting the opponent run game, allowing stolen bases at just a 63.3 percent clip this season

 
THE SERIES WITH THE HILLTOPPERS
Lubbock Christian and St. Edward's have been meeting on the diamond since 1986, and the Chaps lead the all-time series 34-28. Most of the meetings have come in the last eight seasons, when LCU moved to NCAA Division II and joined the Heartland Conference. In 2018 alone, the Chaps and Hilltoppers faced off 10 times, with SEU winning eight of them. Last season, the Chaps and Hilltoppers split the regular season series at Hays Field, and SEU beat LCU twice to eliminate them from the LSC postseason tournament.