ORANGE, Calif — The battery of Cooper Foard and Grant Manning led the way Friday, Apr. 1 afternoon at Hart Park, as the Panthers came from behind to take down the Occidental Tigers 4-2.

Foard led Chapman with two hits on the day, the biggest coming in the bottom of the eighth inning when the catcher drove in two RBI's with the game notched at two to put the Panthers up by two. 

On the other side of the field, Manning seemed to get sharper as the game went on. He allowed his two earned runs in the first and fourth innings via Tiger singles. But settled in from there, throwing four shutout innings after the fact, keeping Chapman within reach.

His quality start paid off late in the seventh inning when the Panthers finally broke through for their first two runs of the game. They scored on a bold first-and-third call to have Foard steal second, with pinch runner Austin Dudas at third. Dudas raced home on the throw down to second, and as Foard slid swiftly under the shortstop's tag, Dudas cruised into home plate.

A few pitches later, Oli Sellman kept his 13-game hit streak alive with an RBI single, evening the score at two apiece.

Manning seemed to get stronger as the game progressed, and coming out with a tie game for the first time since the first inning, Manning promptly shut the Tigers down 1, 2, 3.

The rest was history, as the Panthers took the lead Dylan Holt came on to collect his second save of the year. This one was no trouble as the closer retired the three Tigers in order.

With the win, Chapman improved to 16-6 on the season and 5-2 in SCIAC play. Manning's record moved to 3-1. The Tigers fell to 7-16-1 and 4-6.

The Panthers are back at it tomorrow in Los Angeles as they travel to Occidental for games two and three of the series with a double header at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

By Joe Perrino

Assistant SID / Recreation Sports Manager

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