Panthers drop a pair to Pomona-Pitzer at home

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University baseball team dropped a pair of games to Pomona-Pitzer colleges 7-4 and 7-4 at Hart Park on Saturday afternoon. Despite winning the series opener on Friday 16-3, the Panthers (21-11 overall, 14-7 SCIAC) fell into a four-way tie for third-place with Cal Lutheran, Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental after dropping the series with the Sagehens 2-1.

Game 1: Pomona-Pitzer 7, Chapman 4

The Panthers jumped on the board first capitalizing on back-to-back Sagehen errors in the first inning to take the lead 2-0. The Sagehens battled back scoring a run in the second and two in the eighth when Pomona's sophomore Tanner Nishioka hit a two-run homer to left knocking in senior Sam Fox to give the Sagehens the lead 3-2.

Trailing 3-2 in the eighth the Panthers knocked in two runs, including an RBI single by sophomore Forrest Wiederman to take the lead 4-3. However, the Sagehens rallied with a four-run effort in the ninth sparked by a pass ball and wild pitch to take the final lead 7-4 over Chapman.

Pomona's Fox extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a double down the left field line to put the Sagehens on the board 2-1 in the second and finished the game 3-for-4. Junior pitcher Cameron Yen tossed a full eight innings and gave up only four hits for the Sagehens.

Game 2: Pomona-Pitzer 7, Chapman 4

In Game 2, the Sagehens were first on the board with a three-run effort in the second inning to take the lead 3-0 over Chapman. Pomona then added another two in the fifth and a pair in the sixth to take the lead 7-4 over the Panthers.

Chapman junior Tim Alhanati hit a shallow blooper to left center driving in a run to edge the Sagehens 3-1 at the end of two and sparked a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Sagehens lead 7-4 but the Panthers ultimately fell short.

Alhanati finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate along-side Wiederman who collected a pair of hits for Chapman. The Panthers were outhit by the Sagehens 10-5 at the end of nine in Game 2.

Junior P Matt Smith moved to 5-2 on the season for the Panthers but still leads Chapman with 56 strikeouts this season.

The Panthers will host first-place University of La Verne on Friday, April 17 at 3 p.m. at Hart Park for the first game of their final three-game SCIAC series. Chapman will then travel to La Verne for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 18 before beginning the SCIAC Round Robin on Wednesday, April 22.

by Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

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