The Chapman Panthers baseball team hit the road to begin the 2020 regular season with a contest against the Greer Yellow Jackets, a series which has turned into a great matchup for the two schools over the past few seasons.
An offensive explosion and a strong effort by the pitching staff propelled the Panthers to a season-opening 11-3 win over Greer. Triton McSwain provided a spark at the dish with a leadoff double in the second inning, followed by a Walt Waddell single. Three batters later, Ryan Hall smacked an opposite field single to right, driving in both runners and staking Chapman to an early 2-0 lead. “I would say that is (Ryan’s) best offensive night,” Chapman head coach Steven Fusaro said. “Much like the rest of the guys, Ryan is a really humble dude. We’ve been talking a whole lot about his swing, trying to get some of the air out of it…we’ve challenged him to hit the ball hard on a line. Every time he’s done that this year, I’m pretty sure it’s been a hit. I’m very proud of the work and effort he’s put in.” “I was just thinking about hard line drives, sitting back and waiting on it,” Hall, the senior second baseman said. “I’ve been trying to not take too hard of a hack and being smooth. We’re like a big family – we’ve grown up playing baseball together. I think we’ll be fine this year.” Paxton Tolleson also drove in three runs, along with one RBI apiece from Nelson Crooke and Triton McSwain. On the mound, three Chapman pitchers – Nate Calloway, Walt Waddell, and Jacob Murray – put together a strong performance. They combined to scatter four Yellow Jacket hits while tallying six strikeouts on the ledger. Calloway, the Panthers’ senior southpaw, picked up the win. “Honestly, (the game) went about as well as we could have hoped,” Fusaro stated. “Nate comes out and does what Nate does – he gave us a quality opportunity to win this ball game. Walt’s a young guy and Ithink it’s pretty evident that he has a big time upside. Jacob is a supertalented guy. We just need him to be himself and not try to do too much. He’s as special as anybody.” Next up for Chapman is their Region 2-3A opener at Carolina on Tuesday, March 9th at 7:30 PM. Comments are closed.
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