SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A home-and-home series between the Chapman Panthers and Spartanburg Vikings concluded on Thursday night at Historic Duncan Park with a contest moved up by 24 hours to avoid inclement weather.
It was deadlocked just past the midway point, but an offensive explosion and a superb outing on the hill powered Chapman to a 10-1 victory over Spartanburg. Scoring was hard to come by early on because of how effective both starting pitchers – Chapman’s Jacob Cogdell and Spartanburg’s Emory Butehorn – were for their respective side. The Vikings struck first in the second inning as a runner scored on a Dee Davis RBI groundout for a 1-0 lead. Chapman answered in the fourth inning as Kole Brown drew a leadoff walk on four pitches, advanced to third on a Viking error, and crossed home plate on a Johann Rodriguez sacrifice fly to center, tying the game at one. Later in the fifth, Spartanburg loaded the bases with two outs aided by two walks, but Cogdell induced an inning-ending fly out to right field and erased the threat. Cogdell did yeoman’s work on the mound, holding Spartanburg to one hit and an unearned run in five innings, while tallying four strikeouts and three walks. “Come in, attack, and go right at them,” Cogdell said when asked about his mentality on the mound. “We wanted to get them out, get back in the dugout, and score some runs. I was hitting my spots and locating (in the strike zone) with Johann back there (catching). Spartanburg has some big bats and came out swinging (in the series), which will help us going down the road when we run into big teams.” Lawson Harris entered the game in relief of Cogdell and tossed two scoreless frames for the save. The success of the Panthers’ pitching staff is attributed to one person in particular. “(Pitching coach Jason) Settle is unbelievable at calling pitches,” Fusaro exclaimed. “We’ve been together (on the coaching staff) for 12 years now and there’s no one else in the world I’d rather be out here with. He does a great job with our pitchers and he had Cogdell locked in from the start (tonight).” Butehorn held the Panthers hitless until the sixth inning, when Hudson Moss sent an opposite-field single to right, followed by a Cason Owens walk that put two on with none out. Two batters later, Rodriguez smacked a double down the left field line, which scored Moss and gave Chapman a 2-1 lead. Rodriguez went two-for-three at the plate with three runs batted in. “We’ve got to keep fighting each at bat and keep attacking the other team,” Rodriguez stated. “Once you do that, it gives you the power to keep hitting and competing. Coach Fu always talks about having good approaches at the plate and passing it on to the next batter. That’s what we did tonight.” Coleman Gray singled to left, plating Owens and Rodriguez for a three run Chapman lead. Devin Roe and Jack Settle each drew a walk and scored in the seventh, while Wesley Shipman tallied a base hit and run scored. Peyton Hodge also notched a pinch hit two-RBI single to left. Defensively, Jarren Metcalf made a diving stop on a ball that appeared bound for left field in the fourth inning. He then gathered and fired it to first base, where Settle secured it for the out. “Hats off to Jacob Cogdell,” Fusaro remarked. “He matched (Butehorn) and threw really well. I thought our swings and approach were much better. We were trying to find a spark and Hudson came through for us. We wouldn’t have been in that spot if it wasn’t for Jacob. I told our guys that somebody has to come through in the big moment. We were super excited that (Rodriguez) came through right there. I’m just so proud to be their coach and so proud of our program.” A busy week awaits Chapman (4-2), which begins with a Region 3-3A doubleheader on the road against the Carolina Trojans on Tuesday, March 14th with a scheduled start time of 5 PM. Comments are closed.
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