Chaps Strike Out Stars

Tyler Curtis (Photo Courtesy Mike Hardin)

LEWISTON, Idaho (May 31, 2011) – Tyler Curtis tied a NAIA World Series single-game record with seven consecutive strikeouts and he combined with Tyler Rogers and Shane Ingram to hold No.2-seed Oklahoma City University to four hits, as No.6-seed Lubbock Christian University upset the Stars 8-1 late Monday night to advance into the winner’s bracket final, where they will face No.4-seed Louisiana State University – Shreveport Tuesday night at Harris Field.

LCU scored early and forced starting pitcher Rich Hawkins out of the game just 1.2 innings into his start.  Richard Bohlken hit his NAIA co-leading 23^rd home run of the season with a line shot over the right-centerfield fence for a two-run homer with two outs in the first inning.  The Chaps produced five hits in the second inning, with Dominic Piazza producing a double down the first base line, followed with a sacrifice fly by David Cruz to score a run and setting up RBI-singles from Ryan Burnaman and Ryan Meade for a three-run inning and a 5-0 lead. 

OCU reliever Cody Crabaugh was able to get the Stars out of several jams, including a bases loaded situation with no outs in the third inning, but his offense could not capitalize off the momentum.  The Stars had their lead-off batter reach base for four consecutive innings, but could only take advantage of the effort in the fifth inning when Ruben Sosa sacrificed in a run to cut LCU’s lead to 5-1. 

The NAIA’s leading team in fielding percentage struggled to support the statistic in the sixth inning, as Karl Seiter’s routine groundball to second base with two outs and the bases loaded was booted by Dearth Parker to allow the Chaps to score a run.  The Chaps took advantage of the error, as Chandler Griffin followed with a line drive single to right-centerfield to score a pair of runs and LCU extended their lead to 8-1.

Rogers pitched the first 4.1 innings for LCU and allowed one run on three hits, while striking out six batters.  He was replaced by Curtis, who retired the first 10 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the sixth and seventh inning as part of a strand of seven consecutive strikeouts.  The seven straight strikeouts tied a NAIA World Series single-game record, which had been previously done in 2001 by Lewis-Clark State’s Colin Perschon over Bellevue (Neb.).  Curtis claimed the win (9-3) by allowing just one hit in 3.2 scoreless innings.  Ingram pitched a scoreless ninth inning to seal the win.  LCU combined to strikeout the Stars 15 times in the game.

The Chaps out-hit OCU 14-4 and had four multi-hit performers.  Leading the way was Ryan Meade’s 4-for-5 performance with four singles.  Bohlken and Griffin led LCU with a pair of runs-batted-in.  Of OCU’s four hits, two were by Chad Carman, who was the eighth batter in the Stars line-up, as three of their four hits were by the bottom two players in the line-up.

LCU improved to 2-0 all-time against Oklahoma City and 3-0 against Sooner Athletic Conference foes all-time in meetings held at the World Series.  The Chaps, 21-16 all-time in World Series play, improved their record this season to 48-12 and they have won six consecutive games.  OCU fell to 47-11 on the season. 

The Chaps advance to play at 9 p.m. (CDT) Tuesday against Louisiana State University – Shreveport in the winner’s bracket final.  LCU is 2-1 all-time against LSU-Shreveport and the two teams have not met since 2006.  Tuesday’s game can be heard online at www.lcuchaps.com or locally in Lubbock on KJAK 92.7 FM, and can be viewed online at www.watchNAIA.com.