ORANGE, Calif. - Taylor Hunter singled in the winning run in the 12th inning to give the George Fox University Bruins a 3-2 win over second-ranked Chapman University in the first game, but the Panthers bounced back for a 4-3 win in the nightcap and a split of their non-conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon here at Hart Park.
Game 1: George Fox 3, Chapman 2 (12 innings)
Chapman junior All-American Brian Rauh, who has yet to lose a game in his college career, and George Fox senior ace Brian Ranta hooked up in an expected pitchers' duel in the opener, neither getting a decision before the bullpens decided the game.
Rauh held the Bruins without a hit until the 4th inning, allowing six in all, and scoreless until the 7th while racking up a career-high 15 strikeouts with three walks. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a hit to Timothy Williams in the 4th. Ranta went 10 innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
The Panthers got on the board first on a solo home run by Tyler Surnbrock, his first of the year, in the 2nd. Chapman got another run in the 3rd on back-to-back singles by Charlie James and Adam Velez before James scored on a 3-6-3 double play.
George Fox began its comeback with a run in the 7th as Danny Clifford reached on a single, advanced when Josh Rapacz was safe on an error at third, and scored on Derek Dixon's single up the middle. In the 9th, the Bruins loaded the bases with one out on singles by Clifford and Dixon and a walk to Zac Israel before pinch-hitter Nick Benish hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Clifford and force the game into extra innings.
The Bruins got the go-ahead run in the 12th off Ben Levitt (0-2) when Matthew Zeller singled to lead off, went to second on Jared Chase's sacrifice, and Hunter singled up the middle with two out. George Fox closer Alex Kennan (2-1), in his second inning of work, struck out the first two batters in the last of 12th before Steve Greenberg singled and Surnbrock reached on an error, but Taber Watson hit into a force out at third as the Bruins hung on for their third straight win.
Clifford, Rapacz, and Dixon had two hits each out of the Bruins' total of nine. Velez had two hits for the Panthers, who had eight in all.
Game 2: Chapman 4, George Fox 3
In another tight game, the Bruins out-hit the Panthers 11-8 but the home team took advantage of a couple of George Fox errors to score two unearned runs, just enough to eke out a win.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd as Austin Egger's force out grounder scored Derek Dixon, who had singled and gone to third on two hit batsmen. However, two Bruins were picked off in the inning, precluding further damage. The Panthers answered with an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the same inning on an RBI single by James that scored Surnbrock.
Chapman pushed two more across in the 4th when Greenberg ripped a double to right, scoring James Parr, and Charlie Piro scored an unearned run from third on Watson's ground out. The Bruins responded in the 6th with two runs, Williams tripling to right to score Clifford, who had singled, and Israel following with an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.
The Panthers snapped the tie in the bottom of the 7th as Surnbrock doubled down the left-field line and Watson singled up the middle to score him. Panther hurler Travis McGee (2-0) then nailed down the complete-game win with a 1-2-3 8th and stranding the tying run on second in the 9th with a game-ending strikeout, his seventh of the contest.
George Fox starter Taylor Dunn (0-1) deserved a better fate as he spaced seven hits over seven innings, allowing only two earned runs with three strikeouts and one walk. Parr had three of the Panthers' hits, while Derek Blankenship, Hunter, Dixon and Israel had two hits apiece for the Bruins.
NEXT: George Fox (3-8) and Chapman (5-4), last year's NCAA Division III World Series runner-up, will conclude their three-game series at 12:00 noon Sunday.