ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University baseball team fell 6-4 in the series opener against visiting Cortland on Thursday. The Panthers dropped to 8-6 on the season with the loss.

Cortland scored four runs in the fifth to build a 5-1 lead in the series opener. Mitch Kelly's two-run triple to center punctuated the rally for the Red Dragons.

Chapman brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth after a three-run rally. Josh Phillips hit an RBI single into center field and Kai Osaka hit the top of the left field fence to bring in two more. Devin Georgetti escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and retired the Panthers in order in the ninth to pick up the save.

Osaka finished the game 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs while Nick Naccarato went 3-for-5 and scored a run in the first. Josh Phillips found himself on base three times reaching on a catcher's interference, a walk and his RBI single.

Four Panther pitchers combined to strikeout 10 batters but the Panthers' lineup also struck out 12 times.

The Panthers will look to bounce back in game two of the three-game set tomorrow at 3 p.m.