ORANGE, Calif — Chapman baseball bounced back from its two-and-out SCIAC tournament appearance to take game one of the Orange Regional 3-1 over the Pacific University Boxers.
Grant Manning set the tone with an outstanding one-run, 8.2 inning performance on the bump, not surrendering a run until his final batter in the ninth.
Manning opened the day with four-straight no-hit innings, before allowing a bunt single in the fifth to open up the Boxers five hits.
While the Panthers consistently had lead off batters reach, they weren't able to scrape across any runs until the sixth. Davis Mieliwocki led the inning off with a screaming double into the right center gap. The next batter, AJ Anzai, launched a no-doubt homer to right field to bring the Panthers ahead, 2-0.
That was all Manning would need, but Cooper Foard added an insurance run in a solo shot to left in the seventh.
Dylan Holt came on in the ninth with the bases loaded and one run in to get the Boxers to ground into a fielder's choice on one pitch to end the game.
With the win, the Panthers will move on to the winners' bracket game tomorrow between the winner of the Cal Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer game at 2:30 on Saturday, May 21.