Four Lone Star Conference baseball teams completed undefeated weeks as No. 5 West Texas A&M, No. 13 Angelo State, Oklahoma Christian and St. Mary’s all went unbeaten in conference series. OC’s series sweep over No. 25 UT Tyler headlined the weekend while WT maintained its lead atop the league standings.  

            LSC schedule and results available here: https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=baseball
 
LSC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSC Baseball Championship will be a two-week tournament featuring eight teams with the opening round on campus. The winners of each opening round series will advance to a double-elimination tournament played the following weekend. The winner of the postseason tournament will be recognized as the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason.
 
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Johnny Hernandez, St. Mary's, SR, Criminal Justice, 2B, El Paso, Texas, Montwood HS
Johnny Hernandez went 7-for-9 on the weekend, recording a pair of three-hit games. Hernandez hit his first home run of the season, a three-run shot in the fifth inning to give the Rattlers the lead for good. He reached base a total of 10 times and recorded both a sac fly and a sac hit. The senior had a slugging percentage of 1.222 to lead StMU and he tied for the team lead with seven runs scored.

PITCHER
Armando Valle, Lubbock Christian, JR, Exercise Science, LHP, Guaynbo, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy
Armando Valle had his second straight solid outing, throwing seven innings of shutout ball in a win over Cameron. He allowed just two hits and walked two batters while striking out 12 of the Aggies he faced. CU was hit just .087 batting average against him and .077 for the game marking the lowest offensive output for the Aggies this season. The Puerto Rico native has now gone 17 consecutive innings on the mound without allowing a run.
 
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-9      Nick Seginowich, Angelo State
F-16    Ryan Johnson, West Texas A&M
F-23    Keone Givens, West Texas A&M
M-2     Jordan Gochenour, UT Tyler
M-9     Aldo Buendia, Texas A&M-Kingsville
M-16   Chance Westervelt, Oklahoma Christian
M-23   Josh Elvir, Angelo State
M-30   Cade Engle, West Texas A&M
A-6      Josh Elvir, Angelo State (2)
A-13    Luis Navarro, Lubbock Christian
A-20    Johnny Hernandez, St. Mary's
 
Pitcher
F-9      Ty Stephenson, Lubbock Christian
F-16    Mathieu Gauthier, West Texas A&M
F-23    Connor Schmidt, St. Mary's
M-2     Benjamin Elder, Angelo State
M-9     Zach De la Garza, St. Mary’s
M-16   Cole Lee, Oklahoma Christian
M-23   Trent Baker, Angelo State
M-30   Kolby Lunsford, Texas A&M-Kingsville
A-6      Logan Garza, Texas A&M-Kingsville
A-13    Mathieu Gauthier, West Texas A&M (2)
A-20    Armando Valle, Lubbock Christian
 
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
       Chance Westervelt, Oklahoma Christian, led the Eagles – now tied for third in the LSC race – to a 4-0 week that included a series sweep of then-No. 24-ranked Texas-Tyler, all while moving into the lead in the LSC batting race at .441. In the middle game of the series, he went 5 for 5 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored in OC’s 11-6 win, making him the only LSC player this season to record five hits in two games. He drove in the Eagles’ first two runs in the game. He also scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning of a 5-2 win in the series opener. In a 7-0, rain-shortened win over Southern Nazarene, he went 2 for 2, drove in one run and scored another.
 
       Jonah Gonzales, West Texas A&M, returned to the WT lineup and led the way at the plate for the No. 5 Buffs in a sweep of Texas A&M International on the road. The Aptos, California native hit .667 on the weekend with three doubles and five RBI during the final two games of the series with nine total bases for a slugging percentage of 1.000 to go along with one walk and one stolen base for an on-base clip of .700. In the outfielder, the senior registered three putouts with a perfect fielding percentage.
 
       Garret Thornton, UT Permian Basin, has been an offensive force all season long hitting .349 with four home runs and seven doubles. This week Thornton led the Falcons with a .583 batting average hitting three doubles and driving in five runs during the weekend series against St. Mary's.
      
      Kyler Kerlin, St. Edward's, was SEU's most consistent presence at the plate, going 3-for-6 with two walks and two hit-by-pitches. He scored three times and drove in two runs in a weekend split with TAMUK.
 
      Riley Jepson, UT Tyler, hit .462 for the weekend in his 13 at bats, posting a pair of multi-hit games in the series against Oklahoma Christian. Jepson went 2-for-4 in Saturday night's game and 3-for-4 in Sunday's game two series finale to record a pair of multi-hit games on the weekend. The senior notched four RBI and scored a pair of runs himself in the efforts.
 
      Charlie Bartlett, Angelo State, helped the Rams to a sweep of Eastern New Mexico in the three-game series. Bartlett started behind the plate and finished with five RBIs, a .429 batting average, and was tied for second on most hits.
 
      Jack Granack, St. Edward’s, finished just two outs shy of a complete game in a win over Texas A&M-Kingsville, striking out nine with just one walk and one extra-base hit in 8.1 innings pitched.
 
      Mathieu Gauthier, West Texas A&M, continued to dominate on the mound for the No. 5 Buffaloes this past weekend in a Lone Star Conference road sweep of Texas A&M International at Jorge Haynes Field in Laredo. The senior from Montreal, Quebec tossed seven shutout innings on Friday afternoon, allowing no runs on just two hits with no walks and nine strikeouts for an opposing batting average of .091. He forced seven groundouts and four flyouts during his seven frames, finishing the game with 94 pitches to claim his ninth win of the season which is tied for the most in NCAA Division II Baseball.
 
      Casey Minchey, Oklahoma Christian, who had pitched only one inning all season and only 14 in his OC career, made just his second career start and blanked Southern Nazarene on two hits over five innings as the Eagles won 7-0 in a nonconference game shortened to 5½ innings due to rain. It was Minchey’s first collegiate win since the 2019 season.
 
      Trent Baker, Angelo State, led the Rams to a series-opening victory over ENMU, tossing a complete-game shutout. He improves to 8-1 on the season and holds an ERA of 2.53 on the season. He ranks fifth in the conference in ERA and second in wins while holding opponents to a batting average of .217 in nine appearances.