LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (24-18, 24-18 LSC) at
CAMERON (16-25, 16-25 LSC)
Friday, April 17 – 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 18 – 3 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, April 19 – 1 p.m.
McCord Field – Lawton, Oklahoma
 
LEADING OFF
Lubbock Christian University has its final road series of the 2026 regular season this weekend as they head to Lawton, Oklahoma for four games against Cameron.  The Chaps are on a streak of three straight series wins, having beating Eastern New Mexico, West Texas A&M and St. Edward's. The Aggies suffered a series sweep at the hands of St. Mary's last weekend, but were winners in their last home series against Oklahoma Christian. They are an even .500 (9-9) at McCord Field this season, compared to a winning percentage of just .304 (7-16) in games on the road. The Chaps will be looking to continue their streak of series wins and keep moving up in the LSC standings, where they are fifth.
 
PLUG AND PLAY
Due mainly to injuries, the Chaparrals have used a large number of different starting lineups throughout the 42 games played so far this season. There have been three different players to start at second base, four have started as the designated hitter and a whopping five different LCU players have started at least two games at third base. The only position on the field where only one player has started all 42 games – Kyle Lewis in center field.
 
NERVES OF STEAL
With five stolen bases last weekend against the Greyhounds, Lubbock Christian has officially set a new NCAA-era program record. They have 88 steals on the year, breaking the 2024 team's mark of 87. That season though, the team averaged just 1.42 steals per game, whereas this season they are averaging 2.10 per contest. Kyle Lewis leads the team and ranks third in the conference with 24 stolen bases, and Jorge De Los Santos (22) and Hudson Grace (19) are both also in the top-10 in the league. A whopping 11 different LCU players have swiped at least one bag this season.
 
POWER SURGE
Lubbock Christian leads the conference and ranks No. 31 nationally in slugging percentage with a mark of .515. They lead the conference and are ranked No. 12 nationally in doubles with 96 this season. They are also tied for the LSC lead and rank third in D-II in triples with 18, and their 46 home runs are the second-most in the conference. Hudson Grace slugged 1.000 during the four games against ENMU, clubbing four doubles and two triples on the weekend to raise his season mark to .584. Grace leads the team with 15 doubles and is tied for the conference lead with five triples. Roe Forrest is the team leader, slugging .653 with nine doubles, two triples and a team-leading nine homers.
 
SOLO SHOTS
Of their league-second 46 home runs this season, more than half (25) have come with no runners on base. And half of those (12) came to lead off an inning. The Chaps have hit just one grand slam this season – from Freddie Nolen on March 29 – and they only have three three-run homers on the year. There was a stretch from March 14-22 where six straight LCU homers all came without runners on base,  and six of the last seven Chap round-trippers have been solo shots.
 
TO START WITH
Seven different pitchers have made at least one start for the Chaparrals this season, and the rotation has been solid throughout 2026. LCU's team ERA of 6.28 is fifth in the conference, which is their highest mark since joining the LSC (2020) and their starters have been even better with a 5.08 ERA in 200.1 innings of work. Karson Dunn has been the mainstay of the rotation, posting a 4.19 ERA (ninth in the league) in a team-leading 62.1 innings. Aaron Rubio came out of the bullpen for the first two weeks of the season, but in nine starts has a 3.26 ERA and a team-leading 44 strikeouts. LCU starters have struck out a total of 154 batters, and opponents are hitting .278 against them.
 
PITCHER'S BEST FRIEND
Lubbock Christian enters this weekend's series ranked sixth nationally in double plays turned with 37, including four during the series against Eastern New Mexico. They have turned a season-high three in one game two different times this season LCU's pitching staff is ground ball heavy, getting 356 outs on the ground compared to 268 through the air. Karson Dunn gets the most groundouts with 92 to just 38 flyouts, and he leads the pitching staff with 10 double plays induced.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Runs Created, which was created by the great Bill James, estimates a player's offensive contribution in terms of total runs. It combines a player's ability to get on base with his ability to hit for extra bases. Then it divides those two by the player's total opportunities. De Los Santos leads the team in runs created this season with 44.53, averaging 9.25 runs per nine innings. LCU has been hurt by the loss of second baseman Joe Mancinas, who was averaging 9.31 runs created per game before suffering a season-ending injury just 10 games into the year. Ryan Gargett is the only other Chap averaging more than eight runs created per game at 8.36.
 
STREAKS AND MULTIS
Lewis added one more game to his reached base streak before it was finally stopped at 28 by the Greyhounds last weekend. Now the longest active streak belongs to Owen Alsup, who has reached base in nine straight games. Grace has the longest hitting streak on the team at five. He also leads the team in multi-hit games with 19 after three last weekend. De Los Santos had three multi-RBI games against ENMU and now leads the team in that category with 10.
 
FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA
LCU's 22 newcomers on the 2026 roster come from all over the North American continent, with a whopping 16 (72  percent) hailing from outside of the Lone Star State. The largest contingent from outside of Texas come from Colorado (5), but they also have players from New Mexico, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, Mexico and even Sitka, Alaska, which more than 3000 miles away from Lubbock.
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Lubbock Christian is headed back out on the road for one final time this season. They are 8-11 in road games in 2026 and have not won a series on the road yet this year. In their 19 road games, the team is batting just .278 a .476 slugging percentage, compared to a .340 batting average and .548 slugging percentage in games played at Hays Field. Similarly, the pitching staff has an ERA of 7.48 in road games with opponents batting .295, but a much better .545 ERA and .278 opponent's batting average in home games.
 
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 3,488 games throughout all those years, posting an overall program record of 2,336 wins and 1,152 losses in that time. For the last 23 seasons, it has been head coach Nathan Blackwood leading the program, and he has a 857-407 record.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES

• Cameron is the worst fielding team in the LSC, posting a fielding percentage of .931 with 96 errors this year
• Aggie outfielder Wyatt Cunningham leads the conference in hitting with a .433 batting average, including 15 extra base hits
• CU has been much better at home, where they are 9-9, compared to on the road, where they are 7-16
• Head coach Holden Capps is in his first season leading the Aggies after serving as an assistant coach at Long Island the last three seasons
• The Aggies have stolen just 45 bases this season, which is the third-fewest in the LSC

 
THE SERIES WITIH THE AGGIES
Lubbock Christian and Cameron have met 32 times total, which the majority of those matchups coming in the 21^st century, after the Chaps joined the NCAA Division II ranks. LCU leads the all-time series 26-6 and has won 11 straight meetings with CU. The last Cameron win against the Chaps was Feb. 3, 2023, which was the opening game of that season.