Chapman University baseball team captures third straight conference tourney title

Chapman’s baseball team after capturing the title at the conference tournament. (Photo courtesy Chapman University Athletics, Larry Newman)

Sophomore Grant Manning  went the distance and the bats rallied late as the Chapman University baseball team clinched its third consecutive SCIAC Post season Tournament title with an 8-2 victory over Cal Lutheran on Sunday. The 2019 NCAA Division III champions are back in the national tournament to defend their title.

Just as it did in 2019, Chapman swept its way through the SCIAC Tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship field. The selections into a shrunken field of 48 teams will be announced Sunday night.

The eight sites for the six-team regionals have already been announced with two regional in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin providing the closest possible destination for the SCIAC champions.

In the biggest start of his young career, Manning answered the call with his first career complete game. Just a week after striking out nine Knigsmen in a game that the Panthers won in the 10th, Manning struck out 10 batters and limited Cal Lutheran to just five hits.

Nick Fusari led off the gamer with triple and provided the loudest hit of the day for Cal Lutheran, which l led to an early run when Kyle Reuser followed with an RBI single. Manning settled in although Fusari hit a sacrifice fly in the third and Reuser again followed with a single.

After that first inning, Manning allowed just three more hits and issued a pair of walks. He struck out the side in the fourth and retired 10 in a row from the fourth to the seventh as Chapman took its first lead of the game. With a pick off and line drive double play in the later innings, Manning faced the minimum over the final five innings.

With two outs and runners on the corners in the first, junior Cooper Foard singled to bring in junior Drew Littwin  and tie the game at 1-1. Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, senior Henry Zeisler laced one of his three singles in the game to start the inning and then stole second. Senior Mack Cheli followed with a double to tie the game at 2-2.

A bunt single from Foard put runners on corners and Cheli scored a Cal Lutheran turned a double play to take the lead. Littwin’s RBI single in the sixth made it 4-2 and the Panthers poured on four runs in the eighth. Senior Kyle Joye’s  bases loaded double brought in the final three runs and out the game well out of reach.

Chapman used just four pitchers in the entire SCIAC Tournament to claim the title for the third year in a row and Manning was named the MVP after his complete game performance.

—-Courtesy Steven Olveda, Sports Information Director