ORANGE, Calif. — Baseball takes the opening SCIAC series against Whittier, splitting the Saturday, Feb. 24 doubleheader, winning game one 11-0 in seven innings, and falling in game two, 10-4. 

Game 1

The Panthers were all over the Poets early and often, scoring four in the second, three in the third, and two in the fourth. Chapman got its scoring started with a monstrous grand slam off the bat of Austin Dudas, his first of the season.

Dudas led the way with four RBI. Trent Turquand had two hits and two RBI. He was one of five Panthers to record a mult-hit game. Thomas Golbranson and Kai Osaka had three-hit performances.

Chapman kept the Poets to five hits, as Brandon Menzel tossed five scoreless, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. He finished with five strikeouts, one walk, and two hits allowed. Through 10 innings pitched thus far, Menzel holds a 0.00 ERA, ten strikeouts, and a .9 WHIP. 

Hank Tobias closed out the final two innings, recording one strikeout and allowing three hits.

Game 2

The tides turned in game two as the Poets jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the third inning. Graham Stogner started on the bump and surrendered the eight runs through 2.2 innings of work.

The freshmen were stellar, coming out of the bullpen in relief. Tyler Buxton and Luke Bradley combined for 4.1 innings of shutout ball. Buxton had four Ks through 3.1 innings pitched. 

The Panthers clawed their way back into the game, scoring a run in the third and a three spot in the fifth, but could not scrape across any more runs after that. 

Chapman took two out of three against the Poets and will play one more game this weekend. The Panthers will host Centenary at Hart Park at 11 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 25.