Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
The Chapman baseball team celebrates winning the SCIAC Championship with Coach Laverty.
photo by Larry Newman
Posted: May 16, 2018

Baseball Spokane Regional Notes

NCAA Spokane Regional
May 17-20, 2018
Spokane, Wash.
AVISTA Stadium
Regional Website | Video 

Tickets: $10 adults | $5 children, students, & seniors
TIckets will be available at the gate. There will be no pre-sale.

  • The Chapman University baseball team enters the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship as the No. 1 seed in the West Region. This is Chapman's 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first appearance since the team reached the Division III championship game in 2011.
  • This is the Panthers' first trip to the NCAA Tournament under fifth-year head coach Scott Laverty.
  • In its previous appearances, Chapman has captured 10 regional championships and compiled a record of 61-35.

How We Got Here

  • The Panthers earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Tournament after winning the SCIAC Postseason Tournament. Chapman won four games in a row to take the title, including a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Redlands in the final game.
  • Chapman fell in Friday's opening game to Redlands but played through the loser's bracket into the Championship game. The Panthers forced the "if necessary" game with a 5-2 win. Down 10-1 after six innings, Chapman scored nine runs in the seventh to tie the game on Gavin Blodgett's three-run homer. The Panthers scored seven more runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to win 20-12.
  • Chapman started the season 3-0 with wins over fellow Spokane Regional teams Concordia (TX) and UT-Dallas in Tucson, Ariz. Overall, the Panthers went 7-3 against teams that made the NCAA Tournament – Redlands (3-3), Castleton (1-0) and Ithaca (1-0).
  • Chapman went 15-1 against teams outside the SCIAC but began the SCIAC season with a 3-6 record after dropping the first three series.
  • From Mar. 15-31, they had a season-high 10-game winning streak and continued on to win 16 of 17 games from Mar. 15-Apr. 14.
  • After a 2-0 loss to Whittier on Mar. 13, the Panthers finished the regular season 20-3 and went 4-1 in the SCIAC Tournament.

Player and Team Notes

  • Chapman saw six players earn All-SCIAC recognition this year after taking a third place finish in the conference standings. Senior Gavin Blodgett and juniors Tristan Kevitch and Matt Mogollon headlined the awards with spots on the First Team. Senior Conner Larkin and juniors Tyler Peck and Jarod Penniman earned spots on the Second Team after their performances this season.
  • A couple of Panthers littered the SCIAC leaderboards this season. Kevitch ranked fifth in the conference and first on the squad with a .382 batting average. Blodgett led the Panthers and ranked second in the SCIAC with 47 RBIs and the two tied for third in the conference with seven home runs apiece.
  • Senior Jared Love broke Chapman's all-time home run record with his 22nd career blast this year. He missed the first 12 games of the season and did not come to the plate until the 15th game of the season after suffering an injury in preseason practice. The Panthers are 25-6 since his return.
  • Blodgett's dramatic game-tying homer in the SCIAC championship game was the 20th of his career. He is just the sixth Panther to hit 20 career home runs.
  • Blodgett and Love are the first set of teammates to hit their 20th career homers in the same year. They also rank fourth and fifth all-time for RBIs at Chapman. Blodgett's 140 career RBIs also rank as the 16th-most among active Division III players while Love's 137 RBIs rank 19th.
  • Juniors Tyler Peck and Mason Collins combined for the first no-hitter in the Panthers' Division III history against Whittier on Mar. 13. Peck went 7.1 innings but allowed two unearned runs and Collins finished off the final 1.2 innings.
  • Junior Matt Mogollon and Peck have been an efficient 1-2 punch on the mound. Mogollon owns a 2.30 ERA while Peck took over the team lead with a 2.27 ERA after a complete game shutout of Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC Tournament.
  • Peck ranks third nationally in allowing just 4.67 hits per nine innings. His 96 strikeouts also rank 13th nationally while Mogollon ranks 24th with 88 strikeouts.
  • The Panthers nine shutouts this year rank as the second-most in Division III. Mogollon and Peck have started eight of the nine with Mogollon throwing three complete-game shutouts this year.
  • Defensively, the Panthers rank second in all of Division III with 50 double plays this year, which is the fourth-most in Chapman history.