Bullpen shuts the door on late-inning Occidental rally

ORANGE, Calif. – With a one run lead, the Chapman University baseball team distanced itself with a three-run seventh inning, highlighted by a home run from junior 2B Tyler Hadzinsky en route to the 6-4 win over Occidental College on Friday night at Hart Park.

In the seventh inning after an error by the Tiger’s sophomore 3B Stephen Hilliard, the Panthers capitalized by scoring three unearned runs to take a 6-2 lead.  Senior OF Ryan Prechtl got the scoring started in the inning with an RBI single up the middle followed by Hadzinsky’s two-run home run, his fourth homer of the year.

Occidental (7-13) rallied in the eighth inning with a pair of runs, making the score 6-4, but senior C Joe Lehman ended the rally by throwing out Hilliard at second base to end the inning. Lehman threw out three Occidental would be base-stealers in the game.

The Tigers brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth inning after an error by Chapman freshman SS Mike Chairez, but could not capitalize as sophomore P Ben Levitt struck out the next batter. Freshman reliever Brian Rauh then came in and struck out the last batter to end the rally and earn his second save of the season. Levitt and Rauh pitched the final 1 1/3 inning to secure the win for starter Jordan Sigman who earned his fifth win of the season.

Chapman (15-4) led from start to finish as they jumped out to a 1-0 first inning lead after Lehman hit an RBI triple to left field with two outs, scoring freshman IF James Parr.  

The Tigers then tied the game in the third inning after a left field single by freshman 1B Pedro Aldape scored junior C Brenton Wunner.  Chapman answered later in the inning when Parr’s double plated Prechtl, bringing the score to 2-1.

Chapman extended its lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning with a lead-off home run by senior IF Matt Luzar, his team-leading seventh homer and 26th RBI of the season.  

by Lindsay Jones
Sports Information Intern

Boxscores: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/stats/oxy-cu1.htm