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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PANTHERS ELIMINATED FROM FINALS BY UW-WHITEWATER GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – The Chapman University baseball team saw the dreams of another national championship come to an end with the reality that is the NCAA Division III finals. That reality is that all bets are off when you get to Appleton. For the second straight year, the Panthers entered the tournament as the No. 1 team in Division III, but won’t leave No. 1. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater eliminated Chapman with a 7-4 win at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Warhawks used a three-run fourth inning and a pair of key insurance runs in the eighth to hold off the rallying Panthers and survive to advance through the loser’s bracket. Chapman (40-5) becomes the third team eliminated from the tournament, joining defending champion Kean University (N.J.) and Cortland State (N.Y.), winners of 38 straight games coming into the weekend – an example of just how tough this tournament can be. The Panthers never led in the game, rallying from a 1-0 deficit to tie it in the third on an RBI single by sophomore OF Ryan Prechtl. UW-Whitewater (41-9) then scored three times in the fourth to take the lead for good. Chapman rallied for another run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Prechtl, who was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI in the game, but the Warhawks answered again with a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2. Trailing by the same score in the eighth, Chapman scored a pair of runs thanks to a double by junior IF Kurt Yacko and a sacrifice squeeze bunt by cleanup hitter Stuart Hyman to pull within one. That was as close as the Panthers would get as Whitewater scored twice more in the eighth to make it 7-4. Chapman was held to six hits (or less) for just the fourth time this season. Freshman RHP Jordan Sigman suffered just his second loss of the season, falling to 10-2, allowing five runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings for Chapman. ### Game stats available online: |
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