CMS Baseball Falls in SCIAC Tournament Opener, Meets La Verne Tomorrow

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Jack Potter was 3-for-3 with a homer and two walks, but the Chapman baseball team had two five-run innings to capture an 11-6 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first round of the double-elimination SCIAC Postseason Tournament on Thursday at Pomona-Pitzer Baseball Field.

With the loss, CMS falls to 28-10 and will plat at top-seeded La Verne in an elimination game on Friday at 3 p.m., after La Verne lost its opening round game to Cal Lutheran 8-4. Cal Lutheran will travel to face Chapman in a winners bracket game, with three teams moving on to third day at La Verne on Saturday. 

AJ Ansai capped off a five-run fourth inning for Chapman to put the Panthers ahead 5-2. After Potter hit a solo shot in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3, Oli Sellman hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to cap off another five-run inning and push the Chapman advantage up to 10-3. 

CMS got off to a strong start, taking a 2-0 lead after three innings. Paul Roche had a two-out RBI single in the first to score Potter, who singled and stole second. Potter then beat out an infield single in the third to drive home Tyler Shaw, who led off with a double and went to third on a wild pitch.

Julian Sanders had a two-run double in the ninth to cut the lead to 11-6, but that was as close as CMS could come. 

Derek Seneker (2-for-4) and Roche (2-for-5) joined Potter in having multi-hit games for CMS. Ansai was 3-for-4 with five RBI, including his three-run homer, for the Panthers. 

CMS will try to stay alive tomorrow with a road game at La Verne, beginning at 3 p.m. The two teams just met last weekend in a battle for the top seed, which came down to the final game, with the Leopards earning a 10-4 win in the series finale, after the Stags had pulled even with a 4-2 win in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader.