GREENVILLE, S.C. – Saturday was the opportunity of a lifetime as the Chapman Panthers and Greer Yellow Jackets met on the diamond at Fluor Field.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead but had to hold off a late charge from the Yellow Jackets for a wire-to-wire 8-6 victory. Chapman struck in the top of the first as Hudson Moss and Cason Owens reached on a single and hit-by-pitch, respectively. Moss advanced to third via two stolen bases and scored on a double steal with Owens moving to second. Owens touched home plate on a Greer error, staking the Panthers to a 2-0 lead. Jack Settle took the hill in the bottom of the frame and worked around a two-out base runner, notching a pair of groundouts and a strikeout. The right-hander yielded two unearned runs and two hits to the Yellow Jackets, while striking out six batters and walking four. “I had full confidence in the defense to make plays behind me,” said Settle. “I was being myself and being confident. Having a lead helps a lot, knowing that your guys have your back at the plate. Just go out there and do your thing (on the mound), and they will handle business in the box.” In the third, Kole Brown doubled and scored on a Johann Rodriguez two-bagger, while Cole Daugherty (courtesy runner for Rodriguez) scored from second base during a two-out rundown. Devin Roe walked and later crossed home plate on a Wesley Shipman base hit, extending the Panther advantage to 5-0. “We’re playing really good baseball,” Chapman head coach Steven Fusaro said. “If you take away one inning the other night and one inning tonight, we’re hitting on all cylinders. We are far from being a perfect product and our goal is to be playing our best baseball at the end of the season, but we have to play really good baseball next week (in region play).” Lawson Harris entered the game in the sixth for Chapman and worked around a bases loaded, none out situation with two strikeouts and a fly out to left. The Panthers scored three times in the seventh on a Coleman Gray triple, Roe double, and a Jarren Metcalf base knock for a six-run lead going to the bottom of the inning. Greer rallied for four runs in their final at bat, but Chapman southpaw Jesse Raines tallied a game-ending strikeout to secure the 8-6 victory. “We had to finish it right there,” Fusaro added. “Our lineup is set up where it’s one through five and then it starts over again with Metcalf being that second leadoff batter, with him and Roe being the one-two hitters. Jack bats eighth, but we look at it as batting third and same with Shipman in the nine hole (batting fourth)... The three straight hits right there to score runs were huge and we needed every one of them.” Being able to take the field and play at Fluor Field also meant a lot on a personal level to Settle, a senior on the team. “It was surreal,” Settle exclaimed. “I always came here to watch the Greenville Drive when I was little and always wondered if I would be able to pitch on that field. It was just a great feeling.” Next up for Chapman (8-3) is a road Region 3-3A contest against Broome on Tuesday. The game is slated for an 8 PM start. Comments are closed.
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