Baseball moves on with blowout win

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – A trio of five-run innings led the Chapman University baseball team to a 19-2 win over UT-Dallas in an elimination game at the Collegeville Regional. The Panthers will play in another elimination game later today.

After dropping their first game 14-9, the Panthers have roared back through the loser's bracket and outscored their opponents 30-6. They will take on the loser of the St. Thomas – Pacific game, which will be played this afternoon.

The bats have been hot for the entire regional as Chapman has scored 39 runs in three games. Sophomore Davis Mieliwocki had his second consecutive three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Senior Kyle Joye and junior Drew Littwin also had three-hit games to lead the Chapman offense.

Chapman put up two runs in the second when Mieliwocki doubled in Mack Cheli and came home to score on Mike Gorman's ground out. Keegan Vance responded for the Comets with a solo homer in the third and an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game.

That would be all that sophomore Grant Manning would allow as he navigated his way out of trouble all game long while the offense lit up the scoreboard. He stranded 11 runners on base over seven innings of work to pick up the win. He struck out five and allowed just the two runs on seven hits. Freshman Turner White finished off the game with two scoreless innings.

While Manning kept the Comets' hitters from coming through in the big situations, the Panthers supported him with 17 runs in a four-inning span. A leadoff single from Mieliwocki, followed by a couple of free passes, loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth. Senior Nick Kondo singled in the go-ahead run to make it 3-2 and junior Brad Shimabuku doubled in two more with a ground rule double.

Chapman wasn't done as Littwin singled in a run and senior Henry Zeisler knocked in the fifth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly. With a 7-2 lead, the Panthers scored two on an error in the fifth and five more in the sixth. Joye's towering homer to left finished off the scoring in the sixth for a 14-2 lead. Sophomore Kai Osaka hit a pinch hit grand slam to cap a five-run eighth.

The Panthers will look to keep the offense going as they will need to win four games in two days to advance to the World Series in Iowa. With one down, they will need to win another tonight to play into the Regional Championship.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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