CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – UMass-Boston scored nine runs in the first three innings and held on for a 10-6 victory over the Chapman baseball team on Saturday, dropping the Panthers into an elimination game at the eight-team NCAA Division III World Series.
Chapman will face Washington & Jefferson (of Washington, Pa.) on Sunday at 8 a.m. PT. The winner of that Pool A game advances to play UMass-Boston later Sunday, in a game scheduled for 2:30 p.m. PT.
Chapman defeated Washington & Jefferson 6-3 in Friday’s CWS opener.
“This loss doesn’t mean that we’re out,” Chapman coach Scott Laverty told reporters. “So we still have to think about playing games tomorrow, so we’re battling both those things, trying to win that game, but also trying to keep ourselves in the best position to continue to move forward.”
Chapman (39-12) scored a run in the top of the first on a Henry Zeisler RBI single, but the Beacons (37-12) tied it in the bottom of the inning, then added five runs in the second to chase Chapman ace Tyler Peck (7-4) and three in the third against Cole Fleming.
UMB sent nine players to the plate in the second, as the Beacons loaded the bases with no outs on a single and consecutive walks. Charlie Huegi then smashed a ball back up the middle that Peck was able to knock down, but he threw it away, allowing two runs to score. Nick Herzog drove in a third run with a groundout, and Josh Lopez followed with a perfectly executed safety squeeze, scoring Huegi to make it 5-1.
“Peck is a first-team All-American, so I knew we were going to be in for a battle today,” UMB coach Brendan Eygabroat told reporters. “We were fortunate to get a couple of big hits when we needed it. … I thought we took some good swings.”
With Lopez on first, Kyle Boudrias doubled to right off Peck, scoring Lopez to extend the Beacons’ lead to 6-1.
“Any time, especially with Peck, you’re just a strikeout away (of getting out of the inning),” Laverty told reporters. “Even with the bases loaded, a strikeout-double play, or a strikeout-fly ball, you get out of it maybe only giving up one run or two.”
Chapman got a run back in the top of the third on an RBI single from Joe Jimenez, then loaded the bases before UMB pitcher Dylan Fashempour ended the threat by getting Drew Littwin to fly out to center field.
Trailing 9-2, Chapman finally scored again in the sixth inning on a hit by pitch and a pair of singles, then added another run in the seventh on an RBI single from designated hitter Mack Cheli.
The Panthers added two more runs in the top of the ninth and actually had the tying run in the on-deck circle, forcing the Beacons to bring in closer Bobby Tramondozzi. He got leadoff hitter Alex Tsuruda to ground to second, ending the game.
With Peck roughed up early (two innings, six runs, four hits, three walks) and Fleming unable to get through the third (three runs, three walks), Chapman turned to several seldom-used pitchers to get through the middle innings. Austin Merrill, Mitchell Briggs and Kyle Joye combined for 4-1/3 scoreless innings to buy the Panthers time to chip away at the lead. Briggs pitched 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh.
“For them to come in and do those things in this setting is tremendous,” Laverty said.
Cheli went 3 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored for Chapman (39-12), while Zeisler and Brad Shimabuku each added two hits and an RBI.
Lopez went 2 for 5 with three RBIs and a run scored for UMB, while Eddie Riley was 3 for 5 with two RBIs.
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