Scorching hot baseball heads into SCIAC tournament

ORANGE, Calif — Chapman baseball looks to win the SCIAC tournament for the third consecutive season this weekend.

The Panthers are set to host the conference tournament May 13-15, with game one being between the No. 1 Panthers and No. 4 Cal Lutheran Kingsmen. 

Too Hot to Handle

Baseball is scorching hot heading into this weekend, coming fresh off a sweep of the No. 2 La Verne Leopards. The final win of the series was the tenth consecutive victory for Chapman, and has them looking like the team to beat in the SCIAC.

Wyatt Thompson was fantastic on Saturday, striking out eight and pitching eight innings of one run ball. His eighth win of the season solidified his spot as the SCIAC pitcher of the year.

The offense has been on fire as well. AJ Anzai notched D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors after going 9-for-12 on the weekend with three homers and nine runs batted in.

Star-studded Roster

Chapman had eight All-SCIAC mentions in Wednesday's First and Second Team All-SCIAC releases. 

The Panthers had two pitchers win First-Team honors, while six position players totalled for five First-Team mentions and one Second-Team mention. 

Four Panthers, Davis Mieliwocki, Cole Minato, Anzai, and Drew Littwin ended the season hitting over .400 in the SCIAC, and Cooper Foard finished just below hitting .395.

Outcomes and Scenarios

The Panthers are currently ranked second in the NCAA West Region, just one spot below Trinity, despite having a one game better record.

Should the Panthers win this weekend's SCIAC tournament they will earn an automatic bid in this year's NCAA Regional Tournament. It is likely that Chapman would host a regional tournament at Hart Park. However, if they lose, don't be alarmed, the Panthers will have an opportunity to earn an at-large bid into the tournament.

Game one will be on Friday at Hart Park. It will be between the Panthers and Cal Lutheran at 3 p.m. Saturday will see the losers' bracket, winners' bracket, and semi-finals games. That will be followed up by a one or two game championship Sunday.

By Joe Perrino

Assistant SID / Recreation Sports Manager

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