Baseball takes another series, splits twinbill with Sagehens

ORANGE, Calif. – In a series filled with late-inning heroics, the Chapman University baseball team took two of three from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, including splitting a doubleheader at Hart Park on Saturday with a 7-6 win in Game 1 and 10-8 loss in Game 2. The Panthers had already claimed the series opener on Friday 11-10 on a three-run eighth-inning homer by sophomore DH Matt Gandy.

Game 1: Chapman 7, Pomona-Pitzer 6

After the Sagehens rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to take a 6-5 lead, Chapman (12-8 overall, 10-5 SCIAC) loaded the bases with two outs and got a clutch two-run single from senior IF Mark Saatzer, which proved to be the game-winner. Sophomore RHP Ben Vietze tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up his first career save and clinch the Panthers' fourth series win in five SCIAC weekends.

Chapman jumped on the board first with a pair of runs in the second inning on doubles by Gandy and sophomore IF Tyler Cook (RBI) and a run-scoring single from sophomore IF John Wiehe. The Sagehens tied it in the top of the third and the score remained 2-2 until the sixth when the Panthers plated three more, including a two-run triple by senior OF Connor Battaglia, who then scored on Wiehe's suicide squeeze to make it 5-2.

Panthers' senior RHP Travis McGee struck out 10 and allowed just four hits over seven innings, but was not around for the decision.

Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/boxscores/20140315_t2wa.xml

Game 2: Pomona-Pitzer 10, Chapman 8

One crippling inning led to the Panthers' demise in this one as Pomona-Pitzer (7-14 overall, 5-10 SCIAC) scored nine times in the second inning – all with two outs – and Chapman was never able to recover. The Sagehens sent 15 batters to the plate, collected seven hits, five walks and went through two pitching changes before Chapman was able to retire the side.

Chapman spent the rest of the game playing catchup, and almost did, scoring single runs in the first, third, sixth, seventh and ninth, as well as a three-spot in the fifth inning. The Panthers brought the tying and winning runs to the plate in the ninth, but the Sagehens induced a double play ball to end the threat. Junior OF Greg Dillon went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored.

Four different Chapman relievers combined to allow just one run – a solo homer to sophomore Simon Rosenbaum – over 7 1/3 innings. Rosebaum was 3-for-4 with three RBI in the game and went 5-for-8 in the doubleheader.

Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/boxscores/20140315_tsal.xml

Chapman will travel to Point Loma Nazarene University on Wednesday before returning home for another non-conference meeting with Rutgers-Newark on Friday at 7 p.m. at Hart Park.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

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