Baseball | 02.28.2025

LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (9-7, 9-7 LSC) at
CSU-PUEBLO (9-7, 9-7 RMAC)
Friday, Feb. 28 – 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 1 – 1 p.m.
Rawlings Sports Complex – Pueblo, Colorado
 
LEADING OFF
Lubbock Christian is on the road again this weekend for its only non-conference games of the entire regular season. The Chaps are headed up to the Centennial State for a short two-game series against CSU-Pueblo. CSUP is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which is also a part of the South Central Region, making these games important for the NCAA Tournament. The Thunderwolves have a similar makeup to LCU so far this season, with both teams posting identical 9-7 records. The Chaps and Thunderwolves are offense heavy and both rank in the top 15 nationally in batting average, runs and hits, making for a weekend that promises to be full of scoring.
 
CENTENNIAL CHAPS
This will be Lubbock Christian's first trip to the state of Colorado since the end of the 2023 season, when they played in the NCAA South Central Regional hosted by Colorado Mesa. The last time the Chaps made a trip north for a regular season series was all the way back in 2019, when they split a pair of games against MSU-Denver. LCU was supposed to make a Colorado trip last season, but weather forced Regis to travel to Lubbock. Trips to  Colorado are few and far between for LCU. Their first in program history was in 2016, when they played a series at CSU-Pueblo. They are 8-7 all-time in Colorado.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
Even after a down week last week at St. Mary's, the Chap offensive start to the season has been prolific. LCU ranks No. 1 nationally in hits (197) and runs (176), No. 3 in walks (99), No. 6 in batting average (.352), No. 7 in home runs (24) No. 9 in doubles (37) and No. 10 in slugging percentage (.572). Seven different Chap starters are batting better than .340 and as a team, they are reaching base at a .458 clip. Brevin McCool leads the way with a .500 batting average, and Jacob Gutierrez has hits in 15 straight games.
 
TABLE-SETTERS
One of the reasons the LCU offense has been so dangerous has been their ability to put the leadoff batter on base. The Chaps are reaching at a .488 clip this season in leadoff opportunities, compared to .370 by their opponents. Shea Bowen, Jacob Gutierrez an Johnny Gomez III are all reaching base at a .667 clip in leadoff chances, with Bowen having the most opportunities. Kade York, who has hit in the one hole a team-leading six times this year, also has the most leadoff chances with 17. He is reaching base at a .412 clip.
 
MCCOOL AS A CUCUMBER
Leading the Chaparral offense in nearly every category (and the nation in several) is infielder Brevin McCool. The Hobbs native ranks No. 1 nationally in hits (30), home runs (11), runs (28), RBI (30) and total bases (75). He also leads the LSC in batting average (.500), on-base percentage (.603), slugging percentage (1.250) and triples (3). Last week against St. Mary's, McCool recorded the 200^th hit of his LCU career. He is close to breaking into the top 10 in LCU career home runs (41), doubles (48) and RBI (179).
 
ON THE BUMP
With this just being a two-game series, Lubbock Christian may use some of their regular starters in bullpen situations this weekend, but the game one and two starters so far this season have been Lex Garcia and Ryan Markwardt. Opponents are hitting just .302 against Garcia, while Markwardt has the lowest ERA (4.03) and most strikeouts (30) of anyone on the team. The Chaps have also used Evan Roach, Cadon Everett, Tate Thompson and, most recently, Jake Llaneza, in the starting role. CSUP's game one and two starters so far this season have been Travis Ferrell and Luke Ruby, who both boast sub-3.00 ERAs.
 
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
Entering the weekend against the Thunderwolves, the Chaps lead the LSC with nine baserunners caught stealing. Their stole base against percentage of .735 ranks fifth in the league. The two catchers used by LCU this season are Adam Garcia and Ryan Blackwell. Both have nabbed four baserunners, on the year, on 16 attempts for Blackwell and 17 for Garcia. Control of the running game will be important for LCU this weekend, as CSUP comes in ranked No. 24 nationally with 32 stolen bases.  
 
PLEAD THE FIFTH
LCU's highest-scoring inning so far this season has been the fifth, where they have plated 46 total runs. They are batting .467 in that frame, led by Gomez III's .667 average (albeit in only six at-bats). Four Chaparral home runs have come in the frame, all from different players, along with nine doubles and two triples. The team as a whole reaches base at a .569 clip in the fifth. The highest-scoring inning for LCU opponents is the fourth with 24.
 
STREAKS AND MULTIS
Gutierrez kept his streak in tack throughout the weekend in San Antonio and now has hits in the last 14 games. He is the only Chap with a multi-game hitting streak, although McCool, who walked eight times in the four games against the Rattlers, has reached base in 15 straight games. Gutierrez also leads the team in multi-hit games with 12, followed closely by Nicklaus Baumbach's 10. McCool is the team-leader in multi-RBI games with eight, including a pair of five-RBI games.
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Lubbock Christian is playing their ninth and 10^th road games of the year this weekend, where they have a 6-2 record so far this season. The Chaps are batting .331 away from the friendly confines, led by McCool's .538 average. The pitching staff has an ERA of 6.13 and has limited opponents to a .264 average on the road. CSUP plays at Rawlings Field, which opened in 1994 and underwent a renovation starting in 2020. The park measures 345 down both foul lines.
 
2000 & COUNTING
Since the inception of LCU's baseball program in 1971, the Chaparrals have been one of the best baseball teams at whatever level they were playing. Lubbock Christian has played 3,412 games throughout all those years, posting an overall program record of 2,290 wins and 1,122 losses in that time. For the last 20 seasons, it has been head coach Nathan Blackwood leading the program, and he has a 807-374 record in that time.
 
BIG LEAGUE CONNECTION
MLB spring training got underway last week, with a couple of former Chaps on staff to help out the professional players. Buck Britton, who played shortstop for LCU 2007-08, earned a promotion in the offseason and is now a major league coach on the Baltimore Orioles staff. He has previously been the manager of the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate Norfolk Tides. Wigberto Nevarez, who is a former catcher for the Chaps, is entering his eighth season of coaching and his fifth with the Gwinnet Stripers, which is the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. He spent the winter coaching for Santurce of the Puerto Rican Winter League.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE THUNDERWOLVES
Lubbock Christian and CSU-Pueblo have met eight times, all in the 2016 and '17 seasons and have split this series exactly down the middle. When the two teams met in Pueblo in 2016, the Thunderwolves won the first two games before the Chaps came back and won the next two, including a shutout by Guillaume Blanchette. They split again in Lubbock in 2017, with a run-rule in the series finale.  
 
SCOUTING THE THUNDERWOLVES

• CSU-Pueblo restarted its baseball program in 1994 and has made the NCAA tournament seven times in program history
• The Thunderwolf offense is led by Christian Castaneda, who is batting .455 with a .662 on-base percentage
• CSUP alumnus Bobbly Applegate is in his fourth season leading the Thunderwolves, with an 87-87 overall record
• The Thunderwolf pitching staff has an ERA of 7.32 and opponents are hitting .324 against them
• The RMAC preseason poll picked CSU-Pueblo fourth in the league preseason poll, with Colorado Mesa picked to repeat as league champions for a 13^th consecutive season