Baseball falls to LaGrange in hard fought Super Regional

LAGRANGE, Ga. – The Chapman University baseball team fell 4-2 to LaGrange in game three of the NCAA Division III Baseball Super Regional. Chapman's season came to an end with the loss and LaGrange moves on to play for the national championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

After back-to-back walkoff wins split the first two games of the series, this one came down to the wire as well. Chapman put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth but LaGrange's right fielder ran under a hard hit fly ball to record the final out.

The pitcher's dominated for most of the game. Max Banks carried a no-hitter into the fifth before a double from Rhett Herbert. A bunt single put runners on the corners and a defensive miscue brought the first run home for LaGrange, who went on to add a second run on a sacrifice fly.

Two more runs came across in the sixth for LaGrange on a triple and sacrifice fly.

Ethan Fry pitched seven scoreless innings for LaGrange, striking out six and allowing just three hits. He ran into trouble in the eighth and was replace by Tanner Chafin. Fry hit Nick Kondo and then walked Drew Littwin before handing the ball over to Chaffin. With two outs, Davis Mieliwocki laced a double off the right center wall to bring two runners home and cut the lead in half.

Ben Ziv worked two solid innings in relief for Chapman with four strikeouts. He faced just seven batters as he did not issue a free pass and allowed just one single.

Kai Osaka doubled to put leadoff the ninth and Drake Mueller reached when strike three hit the dirt and rolled away from the catcher. Chafin struck out the next batter and ended the game on a fly ball to right.

In a moment bigger than baseball, both teams gathered around the mound to honor the lives of LaGrange players Jacob Brown and Stephen Bartolotta, who both tragically passed just two weeks ago.

The Chapman Panthers season comes to an end with a 35-14 record. Chapman made its fourth postseason appearance in a row and advanced to the Super Regionals for the second time in the two years that NCAA Division III Baseball Championship has had a Super Regional round.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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