Right-hander Chad Swiderski struck out seven and walked none, facing just two batters over the minimum, as the Sea Gulls beat Chapman 2-0 on Saturday at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships.

Trying to fight its way out of the losers' bracket, Salisbury State (32-12) will play Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against the loser of Saturday's late game between St. Thomas (36-9) and SUNY-Cortland (34-9).

Chapman (37-11) was eliminated from its third appearance in the finals.

It was a solid victory for Salisbury State, which bounced back from striking out 19 times against Matt DeSalvo in a loss to Marietta College on Friday.

This time, Swiderski (8-3) took center stage.

He was in control the entire game, retiring 16 straight at one point and allowing only two singles.

"I think I got stronger as the game went on," said Swiderski, who proved it by striking out the side in the eighth. "As long as you keep hitting the spots, you'll get the strikeouts and the grounders."

Sea Gulls fans got a scare when, in the fifth, Brian Sanders' screaming line drive ricocheted off Swiderski's leg. Swiderski recovered in time to throw him out at first, but he took a few minutes to walk off the sting.

"I was staying in," said Swiderski, who limped the rest of the game. And that was bad news for the Panthers.

With Swiderski mowing down Chapman hitters, the Sea Gulls scored their first run in the third when Kevin Davis slammed his third home run of the year, a towering blast that just stayed fair inside the left-field foul pole.

"I was seeing the ball real well," said Davis, who finished two-for-four. "(Starting pitcher Andrew Tisdale) hung a change-up, and I turned on him."

Salisbury State's other run came in the sixth. With no outs, Mike Russell at second and Andrew Colanero at first, Chris Keane laid down a bunt. But Tisdale's throw to third for the attempted force-out sailed into left field, allowing Russell to score. Colanero also was sent home on the play, but he got thrown out by a couple steps.

Said Tisdale, who entered the game 11-0 with a 1.85 ERA: "I made a bad pitch. I made a bad throw. That's two runs right there."

Sea Gulls left-fielder Jason Ewing provided the defensive play of the day with two outs in the ninth. Justin Taylor lined a shot deep down the left-field line, but Ewing sprinted for it and made a diving, highlight-reel catch for the final out.

Ewing finished two-for-four, while Russell, Colanero and Keane each had one hit for the Sea Gulls.

For Chapman, it was another offensive struggle. The Panthers couldn't get going in a 5-1 loss to Montclair State in the first round.

"In an elite tournament like this, pitching is the key," said Chapman coach Rex Peters, noting that his leadoff hitter reached base only once in 18 total innings here at the finals. "Our offense kind of failed us."

Kyle Schoonover and Alex Taylor each singled for Chapman, which hurt itself Saturday by committing three errors.