Contact:             Doug Aiken
                           (714) 997-6900

Release Date:   May 27, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Chapman Baseball Wins First Division III National Title

GRAND CHUTE, WIS. – Facing a familiar scenario, the Chapman University (Calif.) baseball team needed two wins on the final day of the 2003 season to capture its first-ever NCAA Division III national championship. Aided by 30 runs and 40 hits, the Panthers swept a pair of games from Christopher Newport University (Va.) and did just that, winning the school’s first baseball national championship since 1968 when Chapman won the Division II crown.

The championship is the first for the university since the women’s softball team completed the feat in 1995. It is the first title for a Chapman men’s team since 1987-88 when the Panthers won back-to-back titles in Division II. Since making the university-wide transition to Division III in 1994, the men’s baseball team has been one of the most successful programs in the country, earning six playoff berths, four West Region championships and now a national championship.

Carried mostly by pitching and defense all season – Chapman led the nation with a 1.96 team ERA – the Panthers’ offense was the main reason for the two wins today defeating Christopher Newport 15-2 in the first game and 15-7 in the second game. Chapman forced the second and decisive game after an eight-run fifth inning propelled them to victory in game one. Infielders Brian Sanders and Max Gruber each had two-run doubles in the inning and Gruber finished the game 4-for-5 with four RBI. The Panthers added six more runs in the ninth inning to seal the victory and give right-hander Jeff Green his ninth win of the year, his second complete game in four days.

In the second game, the Panthers led 9-7 in the seventh before exploding for five more runs en route to the 15-7 win. In the seventh, Shaun Donahoe singled in a pair of runs and Sanders, again, doubled in two. The Panthers set a season-high with 24 hits off of five different CNU pitchers. Right-hander Scott Akamine, who pitched a complete-game in Chapman’s West Region clinching game versus George Fox, was gritty, giving up five earned runs and nine hits while striking out six batters in another complete-game.

Five Panthers were selected to the All-Tournament team: Jairo Ochoa (RHP), Justin Hallenbeck (1B), Brian Sanders (SS), and C.J. Castillo (OF), while Alex Taylor (2B) was named Most Outstanding Player of the Division III World Series. Taylor batted .500 in six games (13-for-26) with two doubles and seven RBI.
 

Box Scores (attached):
Chapman 15, CNU 2: http://www.chapman.edu/athletics/02-03/baseball/cu-cnu2.htm
Chapman 15, CNU 7: http://www.chapman.edu/athletics/02-03/baseball/cu-cnu3.htm
For more tournament info: http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/2003baseballchampionship/index.html

Down to their final out: The Panthers almost didn’t make it out of the loser’s bracket to see Monday. Chapman was down to its final out in an elimination game versus Emory (Ga.), losing 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth. However, with the bases-loaded, the Panthers got an RBI single from Alex Taylor, then a three-run double from cleanup hitter Matt Graves to complete the improbable comeback and keep Chapman alive in the tournament.

A noteworthy trend: If any team were to comeback to win two games and a championship it had to be the Panthers. Chapman consistently rallied back from series-opening losses all season long and rarely lost when playing teams a second and third time. In fact, when facing a team more than once all season long, the Panthers lost 9-of-14 first meetings with those opponents. In subsequent meetings with the same teams Chapman was 23-2. The playoffs were no different for the Panthers after losing games against George Fox (Ore.) in regionals and Christopher Newport at the World Series, Chapman came back to sweep a pair of games from each team on the final day. The Panthers also went a perfect 12-0 on six days in which they played two games this season.

The winning touch: First-year head coach Tom Tereschuk has been in these shoes before, although maybe not at this level. Not only is this Tereschuk’s first season at Chapman, it is his first season coaching college baseball. The career-high school coach, Tereschuk won a CIF title at Villa Park High just last season and won three of four titles while there from 1999-2002.

The “throw”back days: Playing six games in five days is taxing on any pitching staff, but the arms for Division III’s best pitching staff went above and beyond the call of duty when needed. First, right-hander Jairo Ochoa, less than 24-hours after starting and pitching five innings on Sunday, threw a complete-game five hitter on Monday over Anderson (Ind.) to advance the Panthers to the championship day. Then, right-hander Jeff Green, pitching on just two days rest after pitching a complete-game loss to Christopher Newport on Saturday, threw a complete-game seven-hitter against CNU in Tuesday’s first game to force a decisive second game. Amazingly, the Panthers won five games in five days using just four pitchers.

Rare feat: The Chapman pitching staff was tops in Division III this season, finishing with a 1.96 team ERA. They become just the third Division III team since 1979 to post a sub-1.98 ERA and tie for the 13th-best single-season team mark in Division III history.

Successful lineage: Tereschuk’s success should come as no surprise as he is just the next in a long-line of successful baseball coaches at Chapman. This year has been a good year for former Chapman baseball head coaches as Chapman’s all-time winningest coach Rex Peters’ (1994-02) has guided his U.C. Davis club to the Division II World Series in Montgomery, Alabama in his first season in charge. And in just his second season as the head coach at Long Beach State, former Panthers player and head coach Mike Weathers (1984-91) has claimed the Big West championship and conference Coach of the Year honors.
 
 

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