Poets put up fight in season opener

   Junior pitcher and preseason All-American Brian Rauh showed why he and his No. 2 Panthers are to be reckoned with by overpowering Whittier College 10-4 in the season opener at Hart Park. Chapman went on to split the rest of the three-game series that wrapped up at Whittier by winning the second game 7-6 and losing the third 12-4.

   Head Coach Tom Tereschuk said the pitching excelled in the first two games but things began to fall apart during the third.

   "We had a few players not play how we want them to play or how they are capable of playing, but we will work on that and get them to where they need to be," he said. 

   The Panthers opened their 2012 campaign with a resounding victory, then a less convincing one, then a whimper as a deep Poets squad took back its home field. 

   The last time Chapman baseball faced a college opponent was last spring in the championship game against Marietta College of Ohio, ranked No. 1 this preseason. In that game, the Panthers fell short, coming in second after a grisly 18-5 loss.

   Rauh (1-0) controlled the first five innings of the home game, allowing only two hits and no runs and notching six strikeouts. Senior reliever Ben Levitt finished the game with five strikeouts and three earned runs. Junior pitcher Travis McGee picked up a win in the second game and junior pitcher Christian Maietta was shelled for six runs in 2.2 innings in the third game by the suddenly hot bats of the Poets.

   Sophomore Mark Saatzer brought in the first points of the game in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI double. Saatzer finished with three RBIs as the Poets' pitching staff allowed 17 hits and struck out eight in the first game.

   "We all swung the bat better than in past years," Saatzer said. "Really solid offensively, solid on the mound, solid defensively, it was a good start to a good season."  

   Tereschuk said he was pleased with the performance of his veterans in the first game as well as the younger players like freshman catcher Matt Gandy. 

   Chapman started out slow in the first two innings but heated up in the third and didn't let up. 

   Senior outfielder Charlie Piro hit an RBI double, contributing to the intense production of the third inning.

   Chapman clenched momentum of the game in the third when Whittier's freshman shortstop Christian Loera lost a pop- up in the lights. The ball fell behind him in center field and allowed two unearned runs. 

   Behind the plate, Gandy struggled to maintain control of the ball in the early innings but visibly showed more poise during the later innings. 

    "Little butterflies at first," Gandy said in regards to his first collegiate game. "But it was a blast. I couldn't ask for anything better." 

   Chapman starts the season 2-1 with its next game in Arcadia Thursday where they will take on the Sea Lions of Point Loma Nazarene University (4-2).