Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College baseball team came up short over the weekend dropping a three game series with Chapman University.
Over the three games the Poets were outscored 26-7 and drop to 5-24, 3-15 SCIAC.
Game 1 (Chapman – 10, Whittier – 2)
In the first game of the series the Poets were outhit 17-6 and gave up three homeruns to the Panthers.
The Purple & Gold jumped out in front in the first inning 1-0 thanks to a Ben Cerami (Berkeley, Calif.) double down the left field line that plated Stephen Zavala (Whittier, Calif.).
Tim Alhanati, brother of Whittier softball pitcher Rachel Alhanati drove in CU's first run with a single in the second but WC would respond the following inning with Andrew Lamar (Alta Loma, Calif.) bringing across Cerami with a groundout to the shortstop.
Joey Bernal tied things up in the third with a solo shot and Forrest Wiederman followed with a double down the right field line that brought in another giving Chapman their first lead of the game. CU extended the lead to 5-2 in the fourth and then 6-2 in the sixth but would put the game out of reach in the seventh off the bat of John Wiehe who sent a two-run blast off the scoreboard that moved the score to 9-2.
Justin Ushio (Mililani, HI) was tagged with the loss and drops now to 0-3 giving up three runs on five hits. Cerami finished the game 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Dylan DeBrouwer (Manteca, Calif.) also finished 2-4, while three different players recorded two walks apiece.
Game 2 (Chapman – 9, Whittier – 3)
Chapman kept their hot bats going in the first game of the doubleheader bringing across seven runs on five hits in the first inning capped off with a three run shot from Connor Larkin.
The Poets were forced to play catch-up and would get on the board in the fourth with Cerami singling to left center that scored Zavala.
The lead moved to 9-2 after a two spot in the sixth by CU but Zavala would get two back in the seventh sending one out to left that brought around two.
But that would be the last offense generated by the Poets as Chapman would add another two en route to the six run victory.
Nick Garcia (Whittier, Calif.) was tagged with the loss (1-6) going a complete game giving up nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits. Jonathan Whipple (Sandy, UT) finished 2-4 with a run scored. Zavala was 1-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored, and Cerami was 1-3 with an RBI.
Game 3 (Chapman – 7, Whittier – 2)
Whittier held a 2-1 lead after four innings with both coming in the bottom half of the second. Charlie Mayfield (Placentia, Calif.) was hit by a pitch and moved up to second after a single by Lamar. DeBrouwer was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases and Dmitri Washington (Peoria, AZ) and Whipple followed with back to back fielders choices that brought in both Poet runs.
In the fifth Chapman rallied for four runs to regain the lead 5-2 thanks to a three run homer from Wiederman and would add another two in the ninth from a Gavin Blodgett homerun to left that put the game out of reach.
Thomas Hemington (Sacramento, Calif.) (1-3) picked up the loss going 5.0 innings giving up five runs on 11 hits and Cerami was the lone Poet to pick up a multi hit game finishing 2-4.
The Poets look to bounce back this weekend when they open a three game series with Caltech. Friday's (April 10) game will be at Memorial Field beginning at 3:00pm and Saturday, April 11 the Poets will be on the road in Pasadena, Calif. for a doubleheader with game times set for 11:00am and 2:30pm.
