Top-ranked baseball opens 2020 season Friday
ORANGE, Calif. - The reigning national champion Panthers begin the defense of their NCAA Division III crown on Feb. 7 in Tucson, Ariz. against UT-Dallas. After dominating Birmingham-Southern College in last season's championship series, the Panthers find themselves favored to take home another title, topping multiple NCAA Division III baseball polls.
In the D3Baseball.com poll Chapman received 19 first place votes and a total of 555 points, finishing slightly ahead of second-place Webster. They also earned 286 points in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, again slightly ahead of Webster.
Last season, Chapman had an incredibly well-rounded team that saw their hitters outproduce opponents in nearly every category, while also recording 280 less strikeouts than opposing batters. This same type of production will be needed again this season as the Panthers lose their three main starters from a year ago.
However, Chapman will be returning junior pitcher and First Team Preseason All-American, Nick Garcia, who will move from the bullpen into the starting rotation this season. Last season, Garcia finished tied for the third most wins on Chapman's roster, with an astonishing 9-0 record and 82 strikeouts in 56 innings. He led all of Division III with a 0.64 ERA to go along with 12 saves, good for third best in Division III.
Garcia will be joined in the rotation by two more juniors, Cody Turner and Riley Glenn, both of whom had huge impacts in their sophomore seasons. Turner finished 2019 with 8.06 K/9 and a 2.98 ERA all while managing to not give up a single home run in 51.1 innings of work. Glenn didn't pitch as many innings as Turner, but he did start three games and finished with a record of 2-0 in 18 appearances.
While the pitching staff will see many changes this season, the rest of the lineup remains mostly intact. Behind the plate will be a familiar face in senior Joe Jimenez. Jimenez was an All-Tournament selection at the World Series and hit .302 over the course of the season with 12 stolen bases.
Chapman's production begins with last season's Most Outstanding Player of the World Series, Henry Zeisler, who will look to build off a phenomenal sophomore campaign where he led the team in home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.532) and finished second on the team in on base percentage (.414). He won MOP as a first baseman, but will be moving back to the outfield, with junior Mack Cheli and sophomore Miguel Cebedo settling into the corner infield spots.
Zeisler will be joined in the outfield by sophomore Brad Shimabuku who had an incredible freshman season that saw him lead the team in batting average (.340) while also recording a perfect fielding percentage. Junior Kyle Joye will look to take over in right field and make a jump into the starting lineup.
Sophomore Drew Littwin will move over to shortstop this season and will look to continue to be productive on the offensive end after leading the team in runs and RBIs a season ago. He joins a seasoned veteran in senior Aaron Wong in the middle infield. Wong heads into his senior season as a career .298 hitter and won the ABCA West Region Golden Glove for his defensive work last season.
With an experienced roster ready to defend Chapman's title, the Panthers also welcome in 11 freshmen, including five pitchers. The newcomers will look to jump into the mix in the bullpen and on the field.
Chapman celebrated the start of the 2020 season with a National Championship Ring Ceremony on February 1, prior to the school's alumni game. Their first home game of the season is on Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m. against SCIAC rival La Verne.
By Phil Wood
Sports Information Assistant
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