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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ABILENE, Texas – With a berth in Saturday’s NCAA Division III West Region championship game on the line, the Chapman University and Trinity University (Texas) baseball teams pleaded their own cases with their bats. It was top-seeded Chapman that edged No. 5 Trinity 10-9 at Driggers Field on Friday afternoon in a see-saw slugfest the Panthers had not seen in either of their first two wins in the tournament. Chapman advances to the regional championship game on Saturday at noon for the fourth consecutive year. Chapman (38-3) had its largest offensive output in this year’s playoffs and needed every bit of it to earn the victory. The Panthers scored 10 runs on 15 hits, including a big five-run third inning and led 10-7 heading into the bottom of the ninth. But Trinity rallied to score a pair of unearned runs with two outs in the inning and had the tying and winning runs on base before junior RHP Kurt Yacko fielded a comebacker for the final out of the game. Yacko pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his school record-breaking 14th save of the year. In the tournament so far, Yacko has a win and two saves and has not allowed an earned run in 8 2/3 innings. After the Panthers scored a run in the top of the first, Trinity (34-14) tagged freshman RHP Jordan Sigman for three runs in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run home run by IF Evan Jones. The Tigers led 3-1 in the third inning when Chapman senior OF Mike Vass hit a three-run homer, giving the Panthers a 4-3 lead and setting a new single-season Chapman record for home runs with his 13th of the year. Chapman scored twice more in the inning to lead 6-3. The Tigers answered again in the bottom of the third, scoring four times – three on a home run by OF Dylan Early – to retake a 7-6 lead. In the fourth, the Panthers recaptured the lead on an RBI double by Vass, followed by a two-run dinger by senior DH Stuart Hyman. Vass finished the game with five RBI and Chapman had a 9-7 lead. The Panthers added a sorely needed insurance run in the ninth with junior C Matt Pearson’s solo home run, which proved to be the difference. Junior IF Patrick Ohail continued his torrid playoff pace, going 4-for-5 with an RBI triple in the third. Sigman was gritty for Chapman, settling in to retire 11 consecutive batters after the third inning. But the rookie could not retire the side in the seventh and gave way to Yacko with two outs and the bases loaded. Yacko got a strikeout to halt the Trinity rally. The run support made Sigman the Panthers’ first 10-game winner of the season at 10-1. Three teams: Cal State East Bay, La Verne and Trinity will battle the rest of the day Friday for the opportunity to face Chapman in the championship round on Saturday. The team that survives on Friday will have to beat Chapman twice to advance to the Division III championships in Appleton, Wisconsin next weekend. ### Game stats available online: |
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