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NCAA® 2007 DIVISION III BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
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| Contact: | Doug Aiken |
| Chapman SID | |
| (714) 345-5550 | |
| Release Date: | May 17, 2007 |
CHAPMAN PITCHING BEATS UT-DALLAS HITTING...BARELY
ORANGE, Calif. - It was billed as the top pitching staff in the West Region versus the best offense in the West Region. On Thursday, in a winners' bracket game at the NCAA Division III Baseball West Region championships, it was Chapman University's pitching (No. 5 in Division III with 2.68 ERA) which topped University of Texas as Dallas (No. 2 in Division III with .364 avg.) 7-6 at Hart Park.
With the victory, top-seeded Chapman will face No. 2 Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) on Friday at noon. At stake will be a berth in the regional championship game on Saturday. No. 4 Texas-Dallas will face the winner of Thursday night's Texas Lutheran-Pomona-Pitzer matchup on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in an elimination game.
Texas-Dallas (33-12) took a 3-2 lead into the third inning when Chapman (37-5) erupted for four runs, thanks to back-to-back home runs from Tyler Dean and Stuart Hyman. Dean's homer, with a man aboard, was his team-leading seventh of the season and 17th of his career. The Panthers led 6-3.
Chapman RHP Wayde Kitchens, who ranks third in the nation in strikeouts (104 after Thursday), had retired nine batters in a row before encountering trouble in the fifth inning. Comets Chase Whitehead and Matt Kelly led off the inning with singles and both scored on Trent Elizondo's two-run single to cut the Panthers' lead to 6-5.
Trailing 7-5, the Comets drove Kitchens from the game in the eighth with a leadoff single from Jake Jackson, who later scored on a groundout. But Chapman closer Kurt Yacko pitched the final two innings, getting three strikeouts including the final batter of the game with the tying run at second base. Kitchens improved to 11-1 this season, while Yacko earned his ninth save.
For Chapman, Ryan Prechtl was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and had one of five of the team's stolen bases.
Cleanup hitter Matt Putman led the UT-Dallas attack with three hits. The Comets out-hit the Panthers 14-11 in the game.
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Game stats available online:
/athletics/06-07/baseball/regionals/game7.htm
