Baseball opens postseason with walkoff win

ORANGE – A wild extra-inning affair saw the No. 1 seeded Chapman University baseball team defeat fourth-seeded Redlands 7-6 in 10 innings to open the SCIAC Postseason Tournament at Hart Park on Friday. Sophomore Connor Montgomery took the first pitch he saw into right field to give the Panthers the victory.

Montgomery stepped to the plate with the bases loaded with two outs – after a Mike Gorman single and two intentional walks to Brad Shimabuku and Henry Zeisler - for his first at bat of the game as a pinch hitter. Montgomery ripped the first pitch he saw into right field scoring Gorman to lift the Panthers to a comeack victory.

The victory, however, was an unlikely one with the Panthers down for most of the game. Redlands jumped on top with a pair of runs after a three-error fourth from Chapman. The Panthers andwered in the bottom half of the inning with a Drew Littwin walk followed by a Zeisler bomb over the left center field fence – a ball that started out in center and sliced across the outfield.

Redlands went back on top in the seventh with three runs on back-to-back triples from Jared Anderson and Jonah Advincula to make it 5-2. Shimabuku singled in a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-4 but Redlands brought home another run in the eighth when Peyton Walsh legged out an infield single.

Again the Panthers had an answer as Kyle Joye sent a line drive up the middle to score Kai Osaka. After a walk to Gorman, the Panthers had the bases loaded with one out and down a run. Redlands' Cal Bridges escaped the jam and kept the Bulldogs in front. Down to the final inning, Littwin worked a full count and drew a leadoff walk. He stole second and moved up to third when a pitch in the dirt bounced up the line. Senior Mack Cheli came through with a clutch single into left to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

Sophomore Wyatt Thompson took over in relief and retired seven of the eight batters he faced, limiting Redlands to just a single in the 10th. He struck out four of those eight batters. Senior Cody Turner took the start on the mound an tossed 7.2 innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on 11 hits with five strikeouts.

Chapman advances into tomorrow's winner's bracket game against second-seeded Cal Lutheran at 2 p.m. The winner advances to the championship and the loser will immediately play the winner of the morning elimiation game between La Verne and Redlands.