Power outages don't keep Panthers from series sweep

ORANGE, Calif. – A first power outage at Hart Park on Thursday forced the Chapman University baseball team to move its 7 p.m. scheduled game with Ithaca College to 3 p.m. But a second outage in the middle of the game didn’t slow the Panthers from a 4-3 victory over the Bombers, completing the two-game series sweep over their East Coast rivals.

Chapman (14-4) won its third consecutive game and for the seventh straight time against Ithaca (0-4), scoring all four runs in the first four innings.

The No. 8-ranked Panthers received RBI singles from senior C Joe Lehman and senior IF Matt Luzar in the first and third innings. Chapman then scored a pair in the fourth on back-to-back-to-back singles – all with two outs – by freshman OF Charlie Piro, senior OF Ryan Prechtl and junior IF Tyler Hadzinsky to pad a 4-0 advantage. Lehman was 2-for-4 to lead the Chapman offense.

Freshman RHP Kevin Osaki held the Bombers hitless through the first 4 1/3 innings before surrendering a pair of runs in the fifth. Six walks and a high pitch count eventually caught up with the rookie, but his five inning two-hitter was enough to earn his first collegiate victory.

Sophomore LHP Ben Levitt came out of the bullpen and allowed a sixth-inning run to make it 4-3, but silenced the Ithaca offense in the seventh and eighth. Freshman RHP Brian Rauh pitched a perfect ninth for his first career save. The Chapman pitching staff held Ithaca to just four hits and a total of 10 in the two-game series.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscores: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/stats/ic-cu2.htm