LCU baseball confronts nemesis Angelo State in NCAA D-II super regional
A Lubbock Christian University baseball team last advanced to a national-tournament final site in 2011, when the Chaparrals made a third consecutive trip to the NAIA World Series.
For the Chaps to end the drought this season, they'll have to overcome a nemesis and conference rival.
LCU (44-14) and Angelo State (39-18) square off in the super-regional round of the Division II NCAA tournament. The Chaps host the best-of-three series at Hays Field with the opener at 6 p.m. Friday and the second and if-necessary third games starting at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The winner advances to the Division II championship bracket playoff June 1-8 at the USA Baseball national training complex in Cary, North Carolina.
No. 1 regional seed LCU and No. 6 regional seed Angelo State won the NCAA South Central regions 1 and 2 brackets last weekend, the Chaps sweeping their three-team bracket at home and the Rams sweeping the three-team bracket in Grand Junction, Colorado.
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Though LCU won the Lone Star Conference regular-season and tournament titles, Angelo State is the reigning Division II national champion, going 56-9 last year and will be trying to end the Chaps' season for the third time in the past five full seasons. Angelo State is 18-8 against LCU since 2019.
The teams split their four-game conference series two months ago in San Angelo. When LCU won the second game of the series, the Chaps ended a nine-game losing streak against the Rams that started in 2022.
LCU and Angelo State had four players apiece named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association all-South Central Region team, which is drawn from players in the Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic conferences. LCU's honorees were shortstop Carson Ogilvie (.428, 13 home runs, 64 runs batted in), third baseman Brevin McCool (.363-14-76), right fielder Jacob Gutierrez (.436-10-58) and starting pitcher Ryan Markwardt (11-1, 5.49 earned-run average).
Angelo State's honorees were catcher Tripp Clark (.448-13-83), left fielder Jacob Guerrero (.364-9-62), starting pitcher Dax Dathe (8-3, 4.38) and relief pitcher Caleb Heuertz (0-1, 2.41, seven saves). Guerrero, Ogilvie and Clark have 26, 25 and 24 stolen bases, respectively, three of the top four totals in the conference.
Dathe transferred to Angelo State from Texas Tech, where he pitched last year.
DIVISION II NCAA TOURNAMENT
SUPER REGIONAL ROUND
Best-of-three series
■ Atlantic Region: Seton Hill (40-15) at Indiana University Pennsylvania (36-15)
■ Central: Arkansas-Monticello (35-22) at Central Missouri (50-8)
■ East: Molloy (42-12) at Southern New Hampshire (34-17)
■ Midwest: Indianapolis (39-19) at Saginaw Valley State (41-16)
■ South: Embry-Riddle (34-20) at Tampa (46-7)
■ South Central: Angelo State (39-18) at Lubbock Christian (44-14)
■ Southeast: Georgia College (37-20) at Catawba (42-15)
■ West: Cal State-Monterey Bay (38-19) at Point Loma Nazarene (43-10-1)
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: LCU baseball faces nemesis Angelo State in NCAA D-II super regional
