Baseball secures second place with 'Senior Day' split
ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University baseball team saw the hopes of its first-ever SCIAC regular season championship fade away, but rallied for a 'Senior Day' win splitting a conference twinbill on Sunday at Hart Park. Visiting University of Redlands snapped the Panthers' 11-game winning streak with a 4-1 win in Game 1, but the Chapman came back to defeat visiting Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 11-1 in an eight-inning 'run rule' in their regular season finale.
Game 1: Redlands 4, Chapman 1
Needing a win to keep pace with first-place Cal Lutheran in the SCIAC standings, the Panthers had no answer for Redlands RHP Michael Collins. The sophomore went the distance, allowing just four hits and one run – a solo homer to Chapman sophomore DH Matt Gandy – to improve to 2-5 this season. Gandy's homer was hit team-leading ninth of the season, coming in the fifth inning to make it 3-1 Bulldogs. Senior OF Connor Battaglia had two of Chapman's four hits.
Redlands (15-22 overall, 14-13 SCIAC) struck for three runs on five hits in the first inning off Chapman senior RHP Taber Watson (5-3) and that was the difference in the game. Junior OF Connor Hancock was 2-for-4 with a run scored for Redlands. Sophomore RHP Matt Smith was outstanding in relief, tossing 8.1 innings of two-hit ball while striking out three and surrendering just one earned run.
The loss coupled with a pair of Cal Lutheran wins on Saturday dropped Chapman into second place in the conference standings. The Panthers will be the No. 2 seed when the SCIAC Tournament begins on Friday.
Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/boxscores/20140427_hvqn.xml
Game 2: Chapman 11, Pomona-Pitzer 1
Playing in their final regular season home game, nine seniors were honored prior to the game for 'Senior Day' and it was the seniors who led Chapman to the 'run rule' victory.
Senior RHP Travis McGee (6-1) tossed his third complete game, scattering seven hits and one run for the win. McGee had his string of 24 innings without allowing an earned run snapped when the Sagehens plated a run with two outs in the seventh. It was the first earned run allowed by McGee since March 29 vs. Redlands.
Chapman (28-11 overall, 21-7 SCIAC) blew open a 1-0 game in the sixth inning, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring six times including a grand slam by senior OF Andrew Carbajal – his fourth homer and second slam of the season. Junior OF Greg Dillon and sophomore IF John Wiehe also had RBI singles in the inning. In the bottom of the eighth, the Panthers 'walked off' with four more runs, including the game-winning RBI single by Wiehe.
Battaglia went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI and senior IF Mark Saatzer reached base three times and scored a run for Chapman.
Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/boxscores/20140427_n2fk.xml
Chapman will host No. 3-seed Whittier College in the first game of the double-elimination SCIAC Tournament on Friday, before the scene shifts to top seed Cal Lutheran on Saturday and Sunday. The Panthers will be playing in their first SCIAC Tournament ever.
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director
Become a fan of Chapman Athletics on Facebook
Follow Chapman Athletics on Twitter @ChapmanSports
Post your #PantherPic to Instagram @ChapmanSports
#Chaptown