Offense held in check as Panthers pushed to the brink

ORANGE, Calif. – For the second day in a row the Chapman University offense was held to just five hits, but this time it was not enough. The Panthers were defeated by the University of Texas-Tyler 5-4 in the second game of the NCAA Division III Baseball West Region playoffs at Roy Helser Field/Jim Wright Stadium on Thursday afternoon. The loss puts top-seeded Chapman on the brink of elimination from the tournament.

Chapman (31-10) will face tournament host and No. 2-seeded Linfield (Ore.) in an elimination game on Friday at noon. Linfield was dropped into the loser’s bracket by No. 3 Pomona-Pitzer with a 10-4 loss on Thursday night. If the Panthers defeat Linfield, they’ll have to come back and face unbeaten Pitzer at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

The Panthers were held to five hits by Trinity (Texas) in the tournament opener on Wednesday, but edged the Tigers by a run 4-3. On Thursday, Chapman suffered the opposite fate with a one-run loss to fourth-seeded Tyler, who avenged a 16-2 loss to the Panthers during the 2009 postseason.

Texas-Tyler (36-11) came back from an early 3-1 deficit, scoring single runs in the third and fourth. The Patriots then snapped the 3-3 tie with a two-out rally in the fifth inning. OF Cody Jones drove home a pair of runs with a bases-loaded double to left to give Tyler a 5-3 lead.

A pair of Patriots’ relievers held Chapman in check over the final six and a third innings. Tyler’s Matt Schimpf (5-0) and Logan Chitwood (6th save) combined to allow the Panthers just four hits and one unearned run after the third inning. The Tyler defense backed them up by squashing Chapman rallies with inning-ending double plays in the sixth and seventh innings. Then Panthers’ pinch runner Eric Robbins was thrown out at the plate on a double by freshman OF Charlie Piro in the eighth.

Trailing 5-3 in the sixth, junior DH Adam Kordich led off with a single and came around to score on two Patriots errors, but that was as close as the Panthers would get.

Chapman had taken a 3-1 lead with three runs in the third inning, taking advantage of three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch. Senior C Joe Lehman collected an RBI single and the Panthers scored twice more on sacrifice fly from Kordich and a run-scoring wild pitch.

Kordich reached base three times, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Lehman finished 2-for-4 to lead the Panthers offensively.

Panthers’ junior RHP Jordan Sigman tossed his third complete game of the season, but dropped to 8-5 overall after allowing 10 hits and four walks in eight innings. The staff veteran struck out five Tyler batters.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/stats/cu-utt.htm