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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – For the second year in a row, the Chapman University baseball team had to face the defending national champions in the first round at the NCAA Division III national championships. And for the second year in a row, it was no problem. Chapman rode the right arms of ace Wayde Kitchens and closer Kurt Yacko to a 4-2 win over defending champion Kean University (N.J.) at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Friday morning, advancing to the winner’s bracket for the fourth consecutive year. No. 1-ranked Chapman (40-3) will face Johns Hopkins University (Md.) at 2:30 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday. In 2007, the Panthers opened the tournament against 2006 champion Marietta College (Ohio) and won 8-4. The Panthers scored first against Kean starter Joe Bartlinski, with a pair of runs on a third inning double by senior OF Mike Vass to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Chapman added a run in the fourth on an RBI single by senior 2B Kyle Redding. Redding led the Panthers, going 2-for-4 in the game. It was Bartlinski’s second loss to Chapman this season after he had held the Panthers to a run and five hits in a complete game 1-0 loss back in March. He fell to 8-3 this season. Kitchens sailed through the first four innings, allowing just one hit. But Kean (39-10) finally got to him with a run on three hits in the fifth inning. The Cougars then pushed across one more run in the sixth inning to make it 3-2 and had runners in scoring position with one out. However, a crucial double play got Kitchens out of the inning when Redding threw out a runner at the plate trying to tag and score on a shallow fly to right. Kean, which beat Kitchens and sent Chapman to the loser’s bracket at last year’s finals, again got a pair of baserunners in seventh. The righty then gave way to Yacko who came in and got the final out of the inning on a ground ball. “Anytime we can get the ball from our starter to Kurt (Yacko) with a lead we feel pretty good about our chances,” said Chapman head coach Tom Tereschuk. Chapman made it 4-2 in the eighth when junior C Matt Pearson drew a bases-loaded walk with one out. But Kean reliever Brandon Aich retired the next two batters to strand the three Panther runners. Yacko pitched the final 2 1/3 innings for his Division III-leading (and school record) 15th save of the season, allowing no hits and inducing a game-ending double play in the ninth. Kitchens won his ninth consecutive decision to improve to 9-0 this year, including a second win against Kean this year. “This has turned into a real rivalry over the past few years and both teams know each other really well and have a lot of respect for each other,” said Tereschuk. “We played great defense and had a few big hits and that was the difference in the game.” The Panthers have defeated Kean three times now this season after last year’s playoff loss and have won five of the past seven meetings with the Cougars. Chapman has won 12 in a row – all on the road – and 32 of its last 33 games.
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