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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ABILENE, Texas - Chapman University threw the nation’s top two pitchers – in terms of earned run average – at the University of La Verne in the first round of the NCAA Division III West Region baseball championships and earned a 4-3 victory at Driggers Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers advance to face the loser of today’s 7 p.m. game between host McMurry University (Texas) and Cal State East Bay on Thursday at 3:30 p.m (central). Chapman (36-3), the tournament’s top seed, benefited from a three-run first inning and then let its aces do the rest to take Game 1. The first three Panthers to bat in the bottom of the inning earned hits and scored thanks to an RBI double by senior OF Mike Vass and a two-run single by junior IF Patrick Ohail to give Chapman an early 3-0 lead. The Panthers would add one more run in the fourth. No. 6 seed La Verne (25-15-1) chipped away at Panthers’ junior RHP Wayde Kitchens, scoring single runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings, but never caught up. Kitchens, who entered the game ranked No. 1 in Division III with a 0.31 ERA, gave up more earned runs to the Leopards on Wednesday (three) than he did during the entire regular season (two). The junior struck out seven batters in 6 1/3 innings to improve to 8-0 this season. The Leopards’ run with two outs in the second inning snapped Kitchens’ scoreless inning streak at 21 innings, following back-to-back shutouts by the righty. Junior RHP Kurt Yacko – second in Division III with a 0.78 ERA – relieved Kitchens with 2 2/3 scoreless innings and stranded the tying run at second base in the ninth to secure his school record-tying 13th save of the year. Yacko was also 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in Chapman’s fourth run of the game with a triple in the fourth inning. After the Panthers’ big first inning, they were limited to just one run and four hits over the next seven innings by La Verne RHP Tim Jolly. La Verne out-hit Chapman 10-8 in the game as eight of the Leopards’ starting nine had at least one hit. Trevor Boucher led La Verne going 2-for-4 with an RBI. The win is Chapman’s eighth straight – all on the road – and 28th in its past 29 games. That streak includes a perfect 4-0 mark against La Verne this season. ### Game stats available online: |
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