TYLER, TEXAS – The UT Tyler baseball program will play their final home series of the season this weekend against #25 Lubbock Christian as they will also celebrate Senior Day.
PLENTY TO PLAY FOR
The initial NCAA South Central Regional rankings came out on Wednesday afternoon and UT Tyler is right on the bubble at number seven. The top six teams will earn berths into the regional tournament to be held at two different sites with three teams going to each. The Patriots get their first chance to move up in the rankings with their matchup against the Chaps this weekend, who are ranked fourth in the same rankings.
The Patriots are also still not knocked out of hosting a first round conference series for the LSC tournament. They sit just two games behind Texas A&M-Kingsville, who is in fourth place. The Javelinas do hold the tiebreaker between the two teams, so the Patriots will need to pass them outright to host an opening round best-of-three series at Irwin Field.
This is the first season that UT Tyler is postseason eligible following the mandatory two year probation period during the transition from Division III to Division II.
SERIES HISTORY
UT Tyler and #25 Lubbock Christian have faced off seven times in their series history, and those games date back to March 6, 2020. The Patriots hold the series lead at 5-2, and all seven previous games have been played in Lubbock, Texas.
The first series between the two teams came back on May 6-8 in 2020 and the Patriots took three out of four games. In 2021's series, the Patriots took two out of three contests. In the most recent game between the two schools, the Chaps took a 12-8 victory.
THE SCOUTING REPORT
As a program, #25 Lubbock Christian comes in ranked second in the LSC in batting average at .341 and sixth in the LSC in ERA at 5.81. The Chaps are first in the conference in complete games, shutouts, slugging percentage, and home runs. The program is second in double plays, hits, and on-base percentage.
George Mendazona leads #25 Lubbock Christian in batting average at .402 on the season. He has 66 hits with 22 of those going for extra bases. He is slugging .646 and has an OPS of 1.121.
Ethan Combes takes the lead for the Chaps in ERA for their starters. Combes has an ERA of 4.57 on 10 appearances and has a record of 6-3. He has thrown 61 innings this season and has 38 walks while striking out 73 batters.
Nathan Blackwood stands at the helm for #25 Lubbock Christian and is in his 19
th season of work for the Chaps. He has been the head coach for all 19 of those seasons and holds a record of 721-323 in his career. Most recently, Blackwood led the Chaps to an appearance in the 2021 LSC tournament championship game before falling to Angelo State.
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Angelo State has now taken over the top spot in the LSC standings after a four game sweep last weekend against Cameron. West Texas A&M follows the Rams, and they are followed by Lubbock Christian in third place. Texas A&M-Kingsville and UT Tyler round out the top five, and are followed by St. Edward's, Oklahoma Christian, and St. Mary's in the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots.
ON THE HORIZON
With the seeding still up in the air, the Patriots have yet to determine where they will be playing next weekend's opening round series in the LSC postseason tournament. The top eight teams will qualify for the tournament, and the Patriots have secured their postseason berth.
The opening round will consist of a three game series to be played Friday-Sunday in a best-of-three format. The #1 will play the #8 seed, the #2 will play #7, #3 will play #6, and #4 will play #5. The winners of those four series with then move on to the highest seed's host site for a four team double elimination bracket to determine the LSC tournament champion.
