West Texas A&M (24-10, 22-10) vs. Lubbock Christian (21-13, 20-12)
Game 1	Friday, April 4th at 4:00 p.m.
Game 2 & 3	Sunday, April 6th at 2:00 p.m.
Game 3	Monday, April 7th at 1:00 p.m.
Location	Lubbock, Texas | Hays Field
Live Statistics	Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4
Live Video (FloCollege)	Game 1 | Game 2 & 3 | Game 4
Other Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M hit the road for Lone Star Conference action this weekend as they make their way down Interstate 27 for a four-game series with the defending LSC Champion Chaps of Lubbock Christian starting on Friday afternoon at Hays Field. Sunday will see a doubleheader in Lubbock followed by the series finale on Monday afternoon.
 
A LOOK AT THE CHAPS
Lubbock Christian enters the weekend with an overall record of 21-13 with a 20-12 mark in league action to sit tied for fifth in the LSC standings. The Chaps are coming off a series loss on the road to St. Edward's last weekend where they took the opener, 14-3 before falling in three straight contests.
 
The Chaps are hitting .351 as a team so far this season with 351 runs on 406 hits as they have registered 90 doubles, 11 triples and 55 homeruns for a slugging percentage of .591 to go along with 208 walks and 193 strikeouts. Brevin McCool leads the way at the plate as the new LSC career homerun king is hitting .443 with 12 doubles and 20 long balls to drive in 56 RBI.
 
LCU has registered a team ERA of 8.81 as they have allowed 287 runs (256 earned) on 334 hits with 193 walks and 231 strikeouts in their 261.2 innings of work as a staff with an opposing batting average of .319. Potential game two starter Ryan Markwardt is 4-3 on the year with a 4.02 ERA, allowing 20 runs on 36 hits with 26 walks and a team-best 55 strikeouts in 47.0 frames.
 
CHAPS IN 2024
2024 was the most successful season in LCU Baseball history since transitioning to NCAA Division II. The Chaps went 45-16 to claim the LSC Regular Season and Tournament Crowns, advancing to the South Central Super Regionals and finishing just one win shy of the NCAA College World Series.
 
LCU HEAD COACH NATHAN BLACKWOOD
Nathan Blackwood is now in his 22nd season at the helm of the LCU baseball program, holding an overall record of 823-380 (.684). Blackwood is the program's all-time wins leader, passing legendary LCU head coach Larry Hays in 2022. The Chaps have made five appearances in the NCAA Division II Postseason (2016, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024). Blackwood led the Chaps to four trips to the NAIA World Series highlighted by an NAIA National Championship in 2009.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Lubbock Christian holds a 51-23 advantage in the all-time series against the Buffs dating back to 1994. The Buffs are 27-18 at Hays Field during that time, dropping their last six contests in Lubbock. 
 
WT HEAD COACH CORY HALL
West Texas A&M didn't have to look far to find the new head coach for Buffalo Baseball as longtime Associate Head Coach Cory Hall was promoted to the skipper of the Buffs announced on June 28th. Hall has spent 14 seasons as the top assistant and pitching coach for the Buffs, having four different pitchers (Austin Moore, Josh Payne, Marshall Kasowski, Joe Corbett) drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft during his time in Canyon with multiple other professional players learning under one of the top pitching minds in collegiate baseball.
 
WT COACHING STAFF
Shawn Neale was named WT's Recruiting Coordinator in 2022 as the Toronto native returns for his ninth season in Canyon, the Buffs ranked 13th nationally in batting average (.334) last season while sitting 16th in hits (623) and 24th in on-base percentage (.432). 
 
WT alumni Cooper Harris returns to Canyon as the new pitching coach for the Buffs following two seasons at LSC foe Cameron. Nollan Koon enters his first season in the dugout for the Buffaloes as a graduate assistant coach in December of 2024. Koon returns to the Texas Panhandle following time as a hitting coach at Northeastern State.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
Defending Regional Champion Angelo State picked up 29 of the 37 possible first place votes for a total of 483 points followed by Lubbock Christian (5 first place, 457), West Texas A&M (2 first place, 411), UT Tyler (1 first place, 386), St. Edward's (311), Texas A&M-Kingsville (268), UT Permian Basin (266), Texas A&M International (2 first place, 234), St. Mary's (205), Eastern New Mexico (200), Cameron (143), Oklahoma Christian (119) and Sul Ross State (66).
 
ASU's Jacob Guerrero was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. The outfielder and graduate student from Colleyville, Texas batted .368 with 11 home runs, four triples, 25 doubles and 76 RBIs. He was the conference's stolen bases leader (30) and scored 79 runs. 
 
Rawley Hector of UT Tyler earned Preseason Pitcher of the Year honors as the senior right-hander from Van Alstyne, Texas went 7-3 with a league-best 2.95 ERA. Hector, the reigning LSC Pitcher of the Year, recorded a pair of complete-game shutouts and struck out 56 batters over 73 1/3 innings. Opponents hit just .241 off him.
 
THIS IS LSC BASEBALL
Throughout the year, all 13 LSC teams will play a single round-robin schedule with a four-game weekend series against each league opponent. 
 
The LSC Baseball Championship will feature a two-week tournament comprised of the top seven teams. The opening round is best-of-three series and will be held May 2-4 at the sites of the No. 2 (vs. No. 7), 3 (vs. 6) and 4 (vs. 5) seeds. The league's top seed from the regular season will receive an opening-round bye and host the double-elimination championship round on May 8-10.
 
AROUND THE LSC
Only four weekends remain in the Lone Star Conference baseball regular season. 
 
Angelo State leads the standings with a 26-6 record thanks to an eight-game winning streak. The Rams (28-6 overall) are also the new No. 1 team in the country according to the latest D2baseball Top 25 Poll. ASU has a 17-1 record on its home turf of Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
 
UT Tyler (28-9, 28-8 LSC), St. Edward's (27-11, 26-10 LSC), West Texas A&M (24-10, 22-10 LSC), Eastern New Mexico (22-12, 20-12 LSC), Lubbock Christian (21-13, 20-12 LSC) and St. Mary's (21-13, 19-13 LSC) round out the top seven teams in the standings.
 
SEU junior outfielder Connor Cox tied an LSC record with four doubles in a game on March 30 in a home win over LCU. Cox is the seventh player to hit four doubles in a game, with the last being LCU's Brevin McCool last season.
 
ASU is leading the conference in hitting (.382) and fielding (.979), while UT Tyler leads in pitching (3.73 ERA). LCU has hit a league-high 55 home run, led by McCool's 20. In addition to homers, McCool is leading the LSC in RBI (56), slugging percentage (1.053) and OPS (1.607). ASU's Jacob Guerrero and ENMU's Willie Ponce share the league's top batting average at .444. UT Permian Basin's Kaleb Scull and UT Tyler's Drew Schmidt have 16 doubles, and ENMU's Kyle Kiernan has five triples. SEU's Travis Chestnut has 29 stolen bases.
 
SEU's Kobe Jaramillo and ASU's Nick Wilson are both 6-0 on the mound and Jaramillo (2.64 ERA) has a league-leading 71 strikeouts. SEU's Parker Tennill has nine saves to also lead the conference. UT Tyler's Rawley Hector (5-1) has an LSC-best 2.34 ERA over 50 innings of work.