LUBBOCK, Texas (March 22, 2025) – Another walkoff, another home run record and 14 innings later, Lubbock Christian has won the series against Texas A&M-Kingsville, beating the Javelinas 9-8 and 12-4 Saturday at Hays Field.
 
The Chaps are now 19-10 on the season and 18-9 in Lone Star Conference play, including wins in three straight series. They will go for the sweep of TAMUK at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
 
It was another come-from behind win in game one of the doubleheader, with LCU trailing 8-6 headed to the bottom of the seventh. Kade York drove in the tying runs and then scored the winning run on a Frayner Chavez double for the four Chap walkoff win of the season.
 
Game two featured Lone Star Conference history, as Brevin McCool homered in the first inning – the 48^th of his career. That breaks the league's 23-year-old career home run record of 47, which was set by West Texas A&M's Ben Hangartner, who played four seasons for the Buffs.
 
GAME ONE
Ryan Markwardt started the first game of the day against Gabriel LeBlanc, and the two hurlers matched each other with two scoreless frames to start the game. The Javelinas were the first to break through, scoring five runs in the top of the third.
 
The big swing of the inning came from Easton Hewitt, who hit a grand slam, although all four of the runs were unearned.
 
LCU got a pair back in the bottom of the inning, as Chavez clubbed his first home run of the season with York on base. Chavez had an incredible day at the plate from the nine hole, going 6-for-8 with five runs scored and three RBI in the two games combined.
 
The Chaps plated two more in the fourth to pull within a run, but went scoreless in the fifth and the Javelinas added a run in the sixth.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, LCU tied the game for the first time since the third, getting an RBI single from Shea Bowen and a double from McCool. But in the top of the seventh and final inning, TAMUK went back on top with a pair of solo homers.
 
That set up the climactic bottom of the seventh, when LCU made its comeback. The Chap rally was kept alive by a Javelina error on Adam Garcia's grounder, right before York and Chavez's back-to-back doubles.
 
GAME TWO
The nightcap was when Texas A&M-Kingsville started the ace of their staff, Ulises Quiroga, who came into the game with a 3.08 ERA. LCU got to him immediately, with McCool's record-breaking home run in the bottom of the first. The Chaps loaded the bases in the frame, but Quiroga got a strikeout to escape.
 
Both teams were scoreless through the next two innings until the Javelinas broke through in the fourth. They scored four runs off LCU starter Evan Roach, but got out of the frame with a double play to keep the Chaps down by just three. TAMUK would not score again.
 
And they got all three of those back immediately in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Blackwell and Chavez each had singles before Bowen doubled. Jacob Gutierrez drove in another run with a groundout, and Nicklaus Baumbach drove in the tying run with a single.
 
Johnny Gomez III led off the fifth and homered, giving the Chaps the lead for good. They would plate three more runs in the inning on singles from Gutierrez and Baumbach.
 
In the ninth, Gomez led off again and homered again. Then both Chavez and York scored on a sacrifice fly from Bowen, with Chavez scoring all the way from second. McCool capped off the Chap scoring with another home run.
 
Roach finished out the game in the seventh, tossing the first complete game of his LCU career.
 
GAME NOTES
» Garcia and Blackwell combined to catch a whopping four Javelina runners stealing in the two games combined.
» In the second game of the doubleheader, Roach did not allow a single TAMUK leadoff batter to reach in seven tries.
» The 17 hits and 11 runs by the Chaps against Quiroga were both the most he has allowed this season. His previous highs were six hits and six runs.
» Through three games this weekend, McCool is 8-for-10 with seven RBI and six runs scored. With 49 career home runs, he is now tied for ninth all-time in LCU history with Keith Hart.
» LCU went 12-for-24 with two outs on the day, collecting seven two-out RBI.