Timely hitting earns CU doubleheader sweep

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University baseball team ended SCIAC round robin with a doubleheader sweep over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and University of Redlands on Sunday afternoon at Hart Park. The Panthers shut out the Bulldogs 9-0 in game one, then slugged out a 10-8 victory over the Stags in game two.

Game 1: Chapman 9, Redlands 0

Chapman slugged out nine runs on 13 hits to cruise to a 9-0 win over the Bulldogs. The Panthers took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning capitalizing on a pair of Bulldog errors. Chapman then broke open their lead with a four-run effort to move the score to 6-0 in the third.

Senior David Basen knocked in another run for the Panthers in the seventh on a sacrifice fly to center to score freshman Konnor Zickefoose and lift Chapman's lead to 7-0. Chapman knocked in its final pair of runs in the eighth to earn the 9-0 win.

Freshman Andrew Mendonca and sophomore Conner Larkin led the Panthers with three hits apiece, while Basen finished the game 2-for-3 with a team-high three RBI.

Senior Matt Molnar improved to 8-3 on the season after tossing his third complete game of the season for Chapman. Molnar gave up just five hits while recording five strikeouts.

Game 2: Chapman 10, Claremont-M-S 8

Trailing 5-4 in game two, sophomore Gavin Blodgett smashed a three-run homer over the left field fence to give the Panthers a 7-5 lead. Larkin followed with a stand up triple and was drove in by Mendonca to lift the Panthers to an 8-5 lead heading into the sixth. Chapman tacked on another pair of runs in the sixth to extend its lead to 10-5.

The Panthers scored their first run in the first on a single up the middle from sophomore Jared Love to take a 1-0 lead. Chapman tacked on three more runs in the fourth with RBI from Larkin, Mendonca and junior Aaron Vilaubi to edge the Stags 4-1.

The Stags scored their first run in the third to tie the game up 1-1. Claremont-M-S then stole the lead 5-4 in the fifth building on an RBI triple by MacKenzie Menthen and a two-run homer by Trey Smith. The Stags scored three more in the seventh but ultimately fell short to Chapman.

Blodgett finished game two 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Larkin racked up another three hits. Sophomore Kynan Barton earned his second win of the season while freshman Christian Cosby picked up his first save.

The Panthers will carry their five-game winning streak into the SCIAC Tournament with time and place to be determined.

By Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

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