Lubbock Christian (33-19, 29-19 LSC) at
Angelo State (44-8, 40-8 LSC)
May 11-?? – Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium – San Angelo, Texas
 
WARMING UP
It was all chalk in the opening weekend of the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship, with all four higher seeds winning. That includes No. 4-seed Lubbock Christian's win over West Texas A&M in which the Chaps took the first two games of the best-of-three series, winning both in walkoff fashion. LCU now advances to the final round, where a double-elimination tournament is hosted by No. 1-seed Angelo State. The Chaps will begin their tournament journey at 6 p.m. on Thursday night, taking on the host ASU. Lubbock Christian has made the LSC Championship in all three seasons they have been in the league, and this is the second time they have reached the final site.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Chap shortstop Carson Ogilvie leads all of NCAA Division II with 82 runs scored this season. He is also the national leader in triples with nine and is second in doubles with 28
• Lubbock Christian has won nine out of its last 10 games
• LCU ranks No. 3 nationally with 11 complete games from its pitching staff, and that doesn't even county Ryan Markwardt's nine-inning gem last Saturday against WT because the game went in to extras
• Outfielder/pitcher Chris Shull earned the win on the mound in both games against WT last weekend, coming on in relief late. He did not allow an earned run in four innings of work, striking out five and limiting the Buffs to a .214 batting average
• The Chaps won both games last week against the Buffs by one run, and they are now 10-7 in one-run games this season

 
AWARD CENTRAL
Seven Lubbock Christian University players were recognized with various Lone Star Conference awards Wednesday night, including All-LSC First Team selections Carson Ogilvie and Eduardo Acosta, All-LSC Second Team selection Chris Shull and All-LSC Third Team selections Brevin McCool, Nate Van Maanen and Ayden Alger. Ogilvie and McCool were also named to the LSC All-Academic Team, and Caden Hensley was named the second basemen on the league's All-Defensive Team.
 
OTHER HONORS
Ogilvie was also honored this week as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association South Central Region Hitter of the week for his performance in the series against West Texas A&M. He was the hero in both games, batting .545 (6-11) with one walk. All but one of his hits went for extra bases for a 1.273 slugging percentage and 14 total bases in the two contests. On Friday night, he led off the bottom of the 10th with a walkoff home run, simultaneously completing the cycle with the swing. It is the second time this season he has hit for the cycle. Then on Saturday he doubled to lead off the 12th, using his speed to score on a sacrifice fly and error that ended the game.
 
REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED
The third round of NCAA South Central Regional rankings were released on Wednesday, with the Chaps ranked No. 6. The top eight are released each week, but only the top six at the end of the conference tournaments will advance to the NCAA Tournament. The host sites and regional brackets will be released on Sunday, May 14. This week's top eight featured six teams from the LSC and two from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
EARLY AND OFTEN
Lubbock Christian has done a good job of getting on the board early all season. They have outscored their opponents a whopping 75 to 37 in the first inning, and 190 to 125 in the first three innings combined. The Chaps hit .381 in the opening frame, with Ogilvie, Acosta and Van Maanen all hitting above .400 in the first on more than 40 at-bats. They are 22-10 when scoring in the first inning and 26-11 when scoring first overall. Their record when leading after the first inning is 18-5.
 
I'VE GOT THE POWER
With four more home runs in the two games against the Buffs, LCU is back to leading the LSC in that category with 69. That number ranks No. 23 nationally. They seem to be hitting their stride offensively, also ranking in the top 25 nationally in batting average (No. 5), doubles (No. 8), hits (No.45), on-base percentage (No. 20), runs (No. 8), sacrifice flies (No. 15), slugging percentage (No. 8) and triples (No. 4). Seven of the nine everyday starters are batting above the .300 mark, led by Acosta's .439 average.
 
TWO AWAY
You don't average 9.3 runs per game (10^th-most in the nation) without collecting a few clutch hits along the way, and the Chaps have gotten quite a few this season. As a team, LCU bats .320 when there are two outs, led by Ogilvie's .410 average in those situations. Van Maanen is the team leader in two-out RBI with 28, by Acosta, Jarred Gibson, Ogilvie and Shull all have at least 20 as well. On the flip side, LCU's pitching staff has done a good job getting off the field with two outs, limiting opponents to a .288 batting average in those situations.
 
STREAKS AND MULTIS
With multiple base knocks in both games against the Buffs, Ogilvie now has 29 mulit-hit games on the season to lead the Chaps, and he leads the team with an 11-game reached base/hitting streak. Hensley is the only other LCU player with a reached base streak in the double-digits. Van Maanen has eased back into the lead in multi-RBI games with 17, thanks to his three-run homer in game one of last weekend's series.
 
A DEEPER LOOK
Now it's time for the part of the preview where we explain some weird stat dive a little deeper into the numbers. This week's weird one has an easy-to-remember acronym – GPA. No, we're not talking player graded, this one stands for Gross Production Average, and it was created by Aaron Gleeman. Similar to OPS (on-base plus slugging), this stat give credit to people who are on base a lot and who hit the ball hard when they hit it. GPA is a little more complicated to calculate – the exact formula is (OBP*1.8+SLG)/4 – but easier for fans to understand because the scale is similar to batting averages. Ogilvie leads the team in GPA at .421, and Acosta is the only other player above the .300s at exactly .400.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Chaps will head back out on the road for the LSC Championship, where they are 14-10 this season. LCU's offense has not clicked as well away from the friendly confines of Hays Field, hitting .325 on the road compared to .358 at home. The pitching staff has been slightly better on the road, holding opponents to a .287 average compared to a .319 average at home. LCU's Thursday night game against ASU will be a true road game, but when the Chaps take on St. Edward's or UT Tyler, it will be a neutral site game – LCU's first of the season. The Rams play at Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium, the former home of the independent league San Angelo Colts. The field is 325 down the lines, 370 to the gaps and 395 to deep center.
 
SCOUTING THE RAMS

• Angelo State won the LSC for the second-straight season, posting a 40-8 league record. This is the third year in a row they have hosted the final site of the LSC Championship, after No. 1-see West Texas A&M lost in the first round in 2021
• Ram pitcher Kade Bragg was named the Lone Star Conference Pitcher of the Year after posting a 1.07 ERA in 75.2 innings of work
• ASU has the top team on-base percentage in the league at .462, and they have struck out just 247 times, which is the fewest in the conference
• The Rams placed four on the All-LSC First Team and had 10 All-Conference selections overall
• Angelo State has produced two Major League Baseball players in the school's history. Norm Cash attended San Angelo College before the school became a four-year institution, going on to become an All-Star first basemen with the Detroit Tigers. Jim Morris attended ASU in the '90s and was an All-American punter while earning his teaching degree. After some time teaching and coaching, Jimmy's players convinced him to go to an MLB tryout, where he signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and eventually made it to the show. His story was famous enough that Dennis Quaid played him in a movie

 
THE SERIES WITH THE RAMS
The Chaps have met regularly in the regular season for a decade now with Angelo State leading the all-time series 30-16. The Rams won all four games played earlier this year at Hays Field, but the two teams split last year in San Angelo.