Kevitch homers twice in baseball’s victory over Principia

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University baseball team run-ruled the visiting Principia College (8-3) in the bottom of the eighth with a 12-2 victory. Junior Tristan Kevitch hit two bombs for the Panthers (14-7), including an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the fifth.

Kevitch's other home run came in the next inning with two outs and sophomore Aaron Wong on first base. The left fielder ripped it over the left field fence, scoring two runs and tallying his third and fourth RBIs of the game.

After a scoreless first inning, Chapman took the lead in the bottom of the second when Blodgett scored from third on an error by Principia's catcher. After a three up, three down top of the third from junior pitcher Christian Cosby, Chapman scored two more in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles from junior Alex Tsuruda and freshman Henry Zeisler.

Chapman went in to the fifth with a 3-0 lead, but Principia rallied to score two and cut its deficit to just one run. With no outs in the bottom of the fifth, Kevitch stepped up to the plate and hit an inside-the-park home run to deep right field, extending Chapman's lead to 5-2. After senior Jared Love walked, fellow senior Gavin Blodgett added a home run of his own when he went yard for a two-run homer to left field, bouncing the ball off the scoreboard and giving Chapman a five-run lead heading into the sixth inning.

Junior pitcher Joey Harmon went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh inning, bringing up freshman Mack Cheli in the bottom of the inning. Cheli walked, but was able to advance to third on a couple of passed balls. Zeisler stepped up to the plate and grounded out to the first baseman, but Cheli was able to score from third and give Chapman a 10-2 lead.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, sophomore Kevin Gregersen singled through the right side, scoring freshman Kyle Joye from third base. All the runners advanced, keeping the bases loaded for Cheli. The rookie hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score sophomore Joel Brown, giving Chapman a 10-run lead and ending the game in the bottom of the eighth.

Cosby struck out six batters while allowing four hits and two runs in five innings pitched. Harmon allowed just one hit in three innings and recorded one strikeout. Six different Panthers tallied RBIs in today's game, but were led by Kevitch, who recorded four RBIs on two hits.

Chapman takes the week off but heads back to Hart Park on Friday, March 23 at 5 p.m. to face Linfield.

by Katie Bell
Sports Information Assistant

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