Chapman baseball settles for second place at Division III finals

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – The Chapman University baseball team needed two wins on Tuesday to capture another national championship trophy. It only got one. The Panthers forced the "if necessary" game with a 15-4 win over No. 1-ranked Marietta College (Ohio) at the NCAA Division III finals at Fox Cities Stadium, but lost in the championship game to Pioneers 18-5, falling just shy of the grand prize.

For Marietta (47-4), it is the fifth national championship – setting a new Division III record – and first since 2006. The second place finish for the Panthers is their highest since winning the national title in 2003. Chapman also had third place finishes at the Division III finals in 2000 and '06. This was Chapman's seventh championships appearance in nine years under current head coach Tom Tereschuk.

Chapman sophomore RHP Travis McGee (1-0, 1.00 ERA, nine strikeouts, complete game) and sophomore OF James Parr (.364, 3 2B, 7 runs and .545 OBP) were each named to the Division III Championships All-Tournament team.

Game 1: Chapman 15, Marietta 4
Fifteen seemed to be a magic number for Chapman (37-13) on "Championship Day" after the Panthers scored 15 runs twice on the final day of the '03 season to win its last national title.

Chapman, ranked No. 9 in Division III, snapped a scoreless tie in the third with four runs and ran away with it from there. The Panthers pounded out 15 runs and a tournament-high 17 hits, including nine doubles – one shy of the championships record. All 10 position players to make an appearance collected at least one hit, led by freshman OF Adam Velez who was 4-for-6 with two RBI in the leadoff spot.

Parr was 3-for-4 and reached base five times. He added three RBI and three runs scored. Meanwhile, sophomore OF Charlie Piro had two doubles and a pair of RBI.

The Panthers also capitalized on three Marietta errors to score seven unearned runs off the Pioneers' ace RHP Brian Gasser, knocking him out of the game in the fifth. Chapman handed the 2011 Division III Pitcher of the Year his first loss of the season (14-1).

In contrast to Gasser, the Panthers countered with junior LHP Ben Levitt and sophomore RHP Kevin Osaki who, combined, entered the game with just two wins and no starts in 2011. The duo answered the bell, combining on a five-hitter with nine strikeouts to beat the top-ranked Pioneers and force the deciding game. Osaki (1-0) picked up his first win of the year, shutting out Marietta over the final 4 1/3 innings and earning nine Ks.

The loss snapped Marietta's 22-game winning streak.

Game 2: Marietta 18, Chapman 5
Marietta clinched its fifth national championship in school history with a lopsided victory in the final game. The Pioneers broke open a 2-1 lead with seven runs in the third inning and cruised from there, adding three more runs in the fourth and fifth innings each to put the game out of reach.

Marietta RHP Austin Blaski – who dealt Chapman its only other loss in the tournament – made the lead standup with six innings of two-hit ball. Blaski was named the Tournament MVP, earning a pair of wins for the Pioneers.

The Panthers scored their only run off Blaski in the second inning on an RBI groundout by sophomore IF Tyler Surnbrock that scored Piro after a one-out triple.

Trailing by 15 runs in the seventh, the Panthers rallied for two when senior C Adam Kordich led off the inning with a double off the left field fence and scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman IF Troy Newman. Pinch hitter Max Burnett then followed with an RBI single.

Freshman OF Connor Battaglia also doubled in a pair of runs with two outs in the ninth inning.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscores:
Game 1: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/boxscores/20110531_o35k.xml
Game 2: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/boxscores/20110531_d7bt.xml
NCAA Tournament Page: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/baseball/d3