Box Score

Grand Chute, Wis. - Kean University (N.J.) began its national title defense against top-ranked Chapman University (Calif.) on Friday (May 23) in the opening game of 2008 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

Chapman scored a 4-2 victory to put the Panthers one step closer to their first national championship since 2003, while the Cougars will be the first squad since Montclair State University (N.J.) in 2000 to be crowned champs after losing their opening round game if Kean can go on to repeat.

The two foes were not unfamiliar with each other despite being separated by more than 2,700 miles, as Chapman (40-3) downed Kean (39-10) during a pair of regular-season games (19-2, 1-0) this season after falling to the Cougars 3-1 in the second round of the 2007 championship.

“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. We played great defense and had a few big hits and that was the difference in the game,” said Chapman head coach Tom Tereschuk.

Chapman used a familiar formula to end Kean’s four-game Championship win streak, as starter Wayde Kitchens (9-0), who earned his first win of the season against Kean on March 16, scattered seven hits and allowed two earned runs through 6.2 innings before giving way to Kurt Yacko.

Yacko entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning and did not allow a hit the rest of the way en route to his NCAA Division III leading 15th save. Holding onto a 3-2 lead with two on and two out in the seventh, first basemen Patrick Ohail got Yacko out of the inning by spearing a hotshot grounder off the bat of Michael Moceri and throwing to Yacko, who was covering first base.

Chapman upped its record to 33-0 on the year when leading after the sixth inning.

“Anytime we can get the ball from our starter to Kurt (Yacko) with a lead we feel pretty good about our chances,” added Tereschuk.

Chapman opened the game’s scoring in the third inning when Mike Vass’ double off the wall in the left-center field gap plated Ryan Prechtl and Yacko, who had both reached via singles. Vass was thrown out trying to parlay his gapper into a triple, but the Panthers would add the decisive third run to go up 3-0 one frame later, as second basemen Kyle Redding beat out a slow roller to the shortstop with two outs to allow Ryan Hall to score from third.

The game’s biggest defensive play came in the sixth when Kean opened the inning with a single and a walk, allowing Bryan Burke to lace a run-scoring single to right field that cut Chapman’s lead to 3-2. Kevin O’Neill followed by popping out to Redding in shallow right field and Redding promptly threw out Nick Nolan at the plate as he tried to tag up and tie the game.

Redding commented on the play, “I was excited when I saw him take off for home, I was really hoping he would because we practice that situation all the time and I was ready for it.”

Kean head coach Neil Ioviero added, “We ran ourselves out of some innings today and weren’t as smart on the basepaths as we needed to be, but our philosophy is to put pressure on the defense.”

Kean got the board in the fifth when O'Neill led off with a double, tagged up to advance to third on Maikel De La Rosa’s flyout and then scored on a single to right field off the bat of Chris Carrano. Chapman rounded out the game’s scoring in the eighth inning with a run-scoring single from Hall that brought home Ohail.

Kean starter Joe Bratlinski was solid on the hill, going 7.1 innings while allowing seven hits, four earned runs and striking out five.

Ioviero summed up the game by saying, “This was a matchup between two of the best pitchers in the country. We left nine guys on base and didn’t get enough big hits to win the game. We have a big mountain to climb, but these guys have done it before.”