- The Lubbock Christian University baseball team is coming off a successful 2024 season when they won the Lone Star Conference regular season and tournament titles and made it to the Super Regionals.
- Despite losing key players, the Chaparrals are looking to build on last year’s success with a strong recruiting class that includes transfers from Division I schools.
- Head coach Nathan Blackwood, who recently achieved his 800th win, believes the team’s depth, particularly in pitching, will be a key factor in their success.
- The Chaparrals are ranked second in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll and 15th nationally by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
The Lubbock Christian University baseball team’s 2024 season was one to remember. The Chaparrals won the Lone Star Conference regular-season and tournament titles, hosted a regional for the first time as NCAA members, won that and lost the deciding game in a super-regional for a berth in the Division II College World Series.
The Chaps delivered Nathan Blackwood’s 800th coaching victory during the postseason run, and their 45-16 record marked their most victories since the 2011 team went 50-14. They finished No. 7 in the American Baseball Coaches Association final ranking.
Flashback:Blackwood breaks Hays’ record for LCU coaching wins
Gone, though, are five regular position players and, from the pitching staff, the leader in innings and two co-leaders in saves. The Lone Star Conference coaches, sports information directors and media believe Blackwood will have the answers, though. They slotted the Chaps second in the conference preseason poll behind Angelo State, which won the D-II national championship in 2023 and lost in the final last year.
“We’re used to playing in those meaningful games,” Blackwood said, “but it had been a few years, so it was good for this program to get back there and for these guys that are returning to see what that’s like. For them to kind of pass that down, for LCU baseball to get back to where we think we belong, that’s important to pass that down to the next group and continue the high-level tradition this program has.”
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Lubbock Christian opens season second in Lone Star Conference poll, No. 15 in national ranking
Angelo State is No. 2 and LCU No. 15 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason poll. LCU opens the season this weekend, hosting UT Tyler (29-23 last year) in the opener at 3 p.m. Friday, a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.
LCU must replace first-team All-American shortstop Carson Ogilvie, second-team All-LSC catcher Jarred Gibson and third-team All-LSC utility player Ryan Ball, plus first baseman Nate Van Maanen and left fielder Hayden Blair. The pitching staff lost innings and starts leader Aydan Alger and saves leaders Chris Shull and Coleson Abel.
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One bonus for Division II teams: After the COVID-disrupted 2020 season, the NCAA gave Division I players an extra year of eligibility to tack on to the end of their careers. It gave D-II players bonus years for both 2020 and 2021. That means players exhausting their eligibility in D-I can play another year in D-II.
From that pool, LCU signed shortstop Kade York from UT-Rio Grande Valley, third baseman Nico Baumbach from Arkansas-Little Rock and catcher Ryan Blackwell from Oral Roberts.
York led UTRGV in walks and runs last season, batting .282 with five home runs and 33 RBIs. Baumbach (.343-8-52) was a two-time first-team all-conference honoree for UALR, leading the Trojans to their first Ohio Valley Conference title last year and leading the league with 22 doubles.
“He can really hit,” Blackwood said.
Lubbock Christian’s Jacob Gutierrez, Brevin McCool earn preseason All-America recognition from NCBWA
They join an infield that includes returnees Brevin McCool, who’s shifting from third base to first base, and Frayner Chavez (.305-3-22) at second. McCool batted .377 with team highs of 14 homers and 79 RBIs, making first-team All-LSC.
Adam Garcia (.272-7-26), a transfer from Bossier Parish Community College, will split time at catcher with Blackwell (.216-2-12).
Midland College transfer Brock Tijerina (.407-4-70) projects as the designated hitter.
In the outfield, the Chaps have first-team all-conference honoree Jacob Gutierrez (.424-10-60) in right, Midland College transfer Kyle Lewis (.382-7-51 and 32 stolen bases) in center and returnee Shea Bowen (.338-9-41) and Cisco College transfer Roe Forrest (.299-6-17) in left.
York or Chavez project as the Chaps’ leadoff batter, Blackwood said, with Bowen batting second and Baumbach, McCool and Gutierrez likely in the 3-4-5 spots. On the NCBWA’s preseason All-America team, Gutierrez is on the first team and McCool the second.
First-team All-LSC pitcher Ryan Markwardt (12-1, 6.10 ERA last year) will anchor the staff, joined by Southeastern transfer Lex Garcia (2-1, 3.80), Cisco College transfer Evan Roach (8-1, 3.90) and returnee Cadon Everett (1-1, 4.97). Also back is Andrew Duran (6-1, 7.52), who could start or relieve.
Jake Llaneza, a fifth-year senior transfer, could start or be a high-leverage relief option. At Lawrence Tech, an NAIA school in Michigan, he went 5-2 with a 3.97 ERA last year, striking out 47 in 40⅓ innings and holding opponents to a .211 average.
Returnees Liam Scott and Alec Stanfield are vying for closer, and submarining righthander Stoney Rhodes offers a different look.
On LCU’s 42-man roster, 26 are pitchers. That’s the most arms the Chaps have had, Blackwood said, other than when they had a junior-varsity team.
“Our (pitching) strength is our depth,” Blackwood said, “and our weakness is probably not having a true (ace), so we’re going to kind of use our depth as our strength, have a short leash on everybody and cycle them through.”
