LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (21-17, 21-17 LSC) vs.
EASTERN NEW MEXICO (14-24, 14-24 LSC)
Friday, April 10 – 3 p.m. (DH)
Saturday, April 11 – 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 12 – 1 p.m.
Hays Field – Lubbock, Texas
 
LEADING OFF
Coming off back-to-back series wins, Lubbock Christian University returns home to host Eastern New Mexico for a four-game series at Hays Field. Weather has already altered the schedule for the weekend. With storms in the forecast for Saturday, the Chaps and Greyhounds will now start the series with the doubleheader on Friday before playing one game Saturday and one Sunday. If the season ended today, the Chaps would enter the Lone Star Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed, but they are just two games back of the No. 4 seed and have the head-to-head tiebreaker with the two teams directly ahead of them. After this weekend, the Chaps will have series against Cameron and UT Permian Basin to close out the regular season.
 
AWARD CENTRAL
Lubbock Christian senior Aaron Rubio was named the Lone Star Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week for his performance against West Texas A&M. It is the second time this season for him to win both awards. He tossed a complete-game, four-hit shutout on the road against West Texas A&M. He struck out four batters and issued only one walk over the seven innings. He only needed 85 pitches and limited the Buffs, who entered hitting .336, to just one extra-base hit. Only one WT baserunner reached third base.
 
TO START WITH
Rubio was not the only Chaparral pitcher with success against the Buffs though. LCU's  starting rotation of Rubio, Dakota McCaskill, Karson Dunn and Bryce Nall combined to post a 3.52 ERA in 23 innings of work. They struck out 15 Buff batters and limited them to a .184 batting average. After Rubio's complete game shutout, Nall pitched a career-high seven innings while allowing just two hits and one run. Overall this season, the Chaparral starting pitchers have combined for a 5.00 ERA and a .271 opponent's batting average with 141 strikeouts.
 
PITCHER'S BEST FRIEND
Lubbock Christian enters this weekend's series ranked 10th nationally in double plays turned with 33, including four during the series against West Texas. They have turned a season-high three in one game two different times this season LCU's pitching staff is ground ball heavy, getting 333 outs on the ground compared to 240 through the air. Karson Dunn gets the most groundouts with 85 to just 36 flyouts, and he leads the pitching staff with eight double plays induced.
 
STREAKS AND MULTIS
LCU senior Kyle Lewis enters this weekend's series having reached base in 27 straight games, dating back to the Feb. 21 game against St. Mary's. It is the longest streak by a Chaparral hitter this season and is closing in on Brevin McCool's 31-game streak, which was the longest by an LCU player last season. Lewis also boasts the longest active hitting streak on the team with seven games after Jorge De Los Santos' 15-game hit streak came to an end last weekend. Hudson Grace had three more multi-hit games against WT and continues to lead the team in that category with 16, while three players are tied with seven multi-RBI games apiece.
 
NERVES OF STEAL
The Chaps swiped seven bases against the Buffs, bringing their season total to 83, which is the 25th-most in Division II. They have long surpassed last year's season total of 41. The most bases the Chaps have stolen in the NCAA era is 87 in 2024, but even that season they only averaged 1.42 per game, while they are averaging 2.18 per game this year. Nine of their steals came in the 3/1 game against UT Dallas, which is the most they have swiped in a game in the NCAA era (since 2015). Four in that game came from Lewis, who is tied with De Los Santos for third in the league with 22 apiece. Grace is right behind the pair with 19 stolen bases.
 
POWER SURGE
Lubbock Christian leads the conference and ranks No. 32 nationally in slugging percentage with a mark of .511. They are atop the LSC in doubles (81), home runs (44) and second in triples (15). Ryan Gargett leads the team in slugging at .683, although he has played in only 24 games this season. Roe Forrest is right behind him at .679 as the team-leader in home runs with nine. Owen Alsup is also slugging above .600 with eight doubles and five home runs. Hudson Grace is actually the team-leader in doubles and has a .540 slugging percentage.
 
SOLO SHOTS
Of their league-leading 24 home runs this season, more than half (24) 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.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is similar to ERA, but it focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over -- strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. It entirely removes results on balls hit into the field of play. If a pitcher has surrendered a high average on balls in play, his FIP will likely be lower than his ERA. Rubio leads the team in FIP, with opponents batting .323 against him on balls in play. Dunn and Tyler Sudderth also have FIPs below the 6.0 mark.
 
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.
 
FRIENDLY CONFINES
There are just eight games remaining at home, where the Chaps are 13-6 this season. Originally dedicated on April 29, 1978 as Chaparral Stadium, the complex was renamed Hays Field in 1999 to honor the L.D., Pearl, Larry, and Daren Hays families for their dedication and commitment to the ideals and values of Lubbock Christian University. The playing dimensions of Hays Field measure 340 feet down the lines, 380 feet to the power alleys, and 400 feet to straight away center. The field features brand new artificial turf, expanded dugouts and a new padded backstop this year and will have new grandstands in time for the 2027 season. The Chaparrals are 1,213-373 in home games all-time.
 
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 3,484 games throughout all those years, posting an overall program record of 2,333 wins and 1,151 losses in that time. For the last 23 seasons, it has been head coach Nathan Blackwood leading the program, and he has a 854-406 record.
 
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS

• ENMU has the second-worst batting average in the LSC, hitting just .281 as a team with a .398 slugging percentage
• The Greyhounds struggled to start the season but are 6-4 in their last 10 games, including a series win at Oklahoma Christian
• ENMU starting pitcher Demitrius DiMatteo ranks sixth in the conference with an ERA of 3.53
• Head coach Riley Price is in his seventh season leading the Greyhounds after taking over in 2019
• Japanese infielder Eliji Sawamura leads the Greyhound offense with a .352 batting average and has also stolen 14 bases in 18 attempts

 
THE SERIES WITH THE GREYHOUNDS
Lubbock Christian and Eastern New Mexico have been meeting on the diamond since 1971, which was the first year the Chaps played baseball. LCU leads the all-time series 73-25 and they are 8-2 in the last 10 matchups. ENMU took two of four last year in Portales, but their last win in Lubbock came all the way back in 2022, and they have not won multiple games in the Hub City since 1971, when they split a four-game series. The Chaps are 45-8 all-time against the Greyhounds at the friendly confines.