FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ORANGE, Calif. – Chapman University’s baseball and women’s water polo teams will begin the season in familiar territory as the spring season begins this weekend. The Panther baseball team is ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division III by Collegiate Baseball, while the women’s water polo is No. 5 in the nation according to Collegiate Water Polo Association. Chapman’s baseball team will begin defense of its West Region championship this Friday at Cal Lutheran at 2 p.m., then open at home against Cal Lutheran with a double header on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. at Hart Park. The Panthers, who reached the Division III World Series for the second time in three years in 2005, are again poised to contend for the ERA title in 2006. Senior right-hander and first-team All-American Buddy Klovstad will lead a re-stocked arsenal that graduated three pitchers and over 261 innings pitched. As usual, the Panthers schedule is loaded with top-25 teams, including a three-game series with No. 10 La Verne in April, hosting Nos. 20 (tie) Kean (N.J.) and Ithaca (N.Y.), as well as No. 25 Eastern Connecticut State in March, and finally a three-game series in Newberg, Ore. with No. 26 George Fox in May. The Panther women won’t get started in the pool until the end of the month when they host the Chapman Tournament at Orange High School where they could potentially see fellow top-10 teams Whittier and La Verne in the championship round. Chapman will face No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer at least twice this season and will travel to the Bay Area to play No. 4 Cal State East Bay in April. Chapman, which reached the Collegiate III Championships for the first time in school history in 2005, returns all of its top-three goal scorers: Kristin Carter (75), Kristina Eich (58) and Teri Bartel (40). Carter set a school record for goals in a season and earned second team All-America honors.
Find baseball and water polo preseason polls online: |
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