Chapman starter Christian Maietta picked off Daniel Putnam and two other runners in throwing a complete game to eliminate UW-Whitewater, 4-2 on Sunday. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Christian Maietta out dueled Riley Tincher in an elimination game between two former baseball champions.  Chapman remained alive in the Division III Baseball Tournament with a 4-2 win over UW-Whitewater. Chapman will face Buena Vista on Monday at a time to be determined.

"It was an awesome game," said Chapman head coach Tom Tereschuk. "Christian was phenomenal on the mound, so close to throwing a shutout."

Maietta was that and moe as he faced five batters over the minimum in his complete game effort. Maietta allowed two runs, all earned on five hits. Maietta helped his case, picking off three Warhawks in the first four innings.

"A pickoff boosts my condidence," said Maietta. It is great to get back into the windup and not having to fight with someone on base and getting back into a groove."

Troy Newman had three sacrifices and a single to drive in three of the four Chapman runs as the offensive star for the Panthers.

Chapman scratched out three runs in the middle innings to take a 3-0 lead. An error by UW-Whitewater's first baseman allowed James Parr, the leadoff runner to reach base. Charlie Piro moved him to second with this second single of the game. A sacrifice moved the runners up and Parr was able to score on Newman's sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, Mark Saatzer singled to center and moved to second on an error by the center fielder. A wild pitch by Tincher moved him to third and he scored on Tyler Hadzinski's sacrifice fly. Tyler Surnbrock tripled to left center and scored on a squeeze play by Newman in the sixth inning.

"Troy is a great action guy," said Tereschuk. "it was the perfect situation for him to have an opportunity to get a big run for us. When you get to this point in the season, execution is what wins ball games."

The Warhawks got two of those runs back in a hurry. With Andrew Eichstaedt on first, Jeff Donovan hit a home run that seemed to carry forever and finally disappear over the left field fence.

Chapman scored their final run on a Newman two-out single. Parr reached on a single to and took second on Piro's sacrifice bunt to get into scoring position

Piro and Surnbrock had two hits on the day for Chapman. Parr scored twice. Eichstaedt and Donovan each had two hits for UW-Whitewater.  Donovan's home run accounted for all the Warhawk RBIs.

Tincher took the loss for UW-Whitewater. He allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits.  Eric Schmitz pitched 1.2 innings and was charged with one earned run. Matthew Roberts got the final out, striking out the only batter he faced.