Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – A 5-4 10-inning win by the George Fox University Bruins in the first game of Sunday's NCAA Division III Baseball West Regional here at Linfield College's Roy Helser Field/Jim Wright Stadium forced a second and deciding game, but the battle-tested Chapman University Panthers scored three unearned runs in the 7th inning to take a 7-4 win and a spot in next week's D-III World Series.

Chapman, unranked nationally and the No. 5 seed in the regional, will take a 30-15 record into its fifth straight NCAA World Series appearance and sixth in seven years May 22-26 in Appleton, Wisc.  The only time the Panthers did not go in that time was 2004, when George Fox won the West and captured the national title.  The 16th-ranked and No. 4 seed Bruins, playing in their third regional title game since 2003, end the year with a 36-11 record, the second-most wins in a season other than the 2004 team's 40-10.

For long-time Bruin watchers, Sunday's matchup brought back memories of 2003, when Chapman had to defeat George Fox twice on the final day of the regional and did just that, then went on to win the World Series.  Seth Anderson's sacrifice fly in the last of the 10th inning of the opener scored Matt Wyckoff with the winning run and gave Bruin fans hope that their team might return the '03 favor to the Panthers.

George Fox took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the opening inning when Kyle Kuenzi tripled down the right-field line and scored on Bo Thunell's ground single to left.  It was the eighth triple of the season for Kuenzi, tying the Bruins' single-season record set by Chris Wakeland in 1994.  It was also his 12th career triple, extending his own all-time record.

Chapman took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd as Halston Barcelo singled and Tyler Hadzinsky doubled him to third.  Barcelo scored on Joe Lehman's grounder to short, and Ryan Hall's single to center scored Hadzinsky.

The Bruins regained the lead with three in the 5th.  Taylor Hunter doubled to lead off, Kuenzi bunted for a hit, and Matt Wyckoff walked before Thunell put the Bruins ahead with a two-run double to left-center.  Dan Winterstein's grounder to short scored Wyckoff, but the Panthers escaped further damage when Thunell was caught on a close play at the plate trying to score on a pitch that eluded catcher Lehman.

The Panthers cut the lead to 4-3 in the 7th when Ryan Pretchl singled with one out, Ben Owens walked, and Patrick Ohail doubled to score Pretchl. 

George Fox starter Mark Putney, working on two day's rest, was relieved by Chad Jones to start the 8th after scattering eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks over seven frames.  Trying for his eighth save, Jones got through the inning unscathed but ran into trouble in the 9th when the Panthers knotted the game.

Owens singled to start the Chapman rally and went to third when John Semel's potential double-play grounder to Hunter at short was thrown away at second.  Jones got Ohail on a strikeout and Tristan Phillips on a pop to short, but Barcelo's bouncer to the hole between third and short was juggled by Bailey at third as the tying run scored.

After George Fox went down in order in the bottom of the 9th, Jones (8-1) held the Panthers scoreless in the 10th and picked up the win when the Bruins scored in the home half.  Wyckoff singled to right, moved up on a wild pitch and Thunell's sacrifice, and scored on Anderson's deep fly to right, setting up the finale.

Matt Luzar (3-4) went the distance for the Panthers, allowing nine hits with four strikeouts and four walks.  Thunell led all hitters with a 3-for-4 game and three RBIs, while Kuenzi had two hits.  Pretchl and Barcelo collected two hits each out of the Panthers' total of 10.

Nick Bratney, starting the second game on only one day's rest for the Bruins, was touched for a run in the 3rd and two more in the 5th.  Hadzinsky singled off Bratney's glove, moved up on two ground outs, and scored the first run of the game on Pretchl's single up the middle.  In the 5th, Semel's single scored Pretchl, who had been hit by a pitch, and Ohail's sacrifice fly to center scored Owens, who had reached on a single.

Held to only two hits through five innings by Chapman's Jordan Sigman, the Bruins broke through against the right-hander in the 6th.  Wyckoff walked and Thunell and Anderson singled to load the bases with no outs, and Winterstein singled to right for the first Bruin run.  Lefty Ben Levitt replaced Sigman, and Bailey greeted him with a sharp single to center to score Thunell.  Todd Siler's sacrifice fly to right scored Anderson with the tying run, and when Bailey was trapped in a rundown between first and second, Winterstein, who had advanced to third, kept going to score the go-ahead run on a close play at the plate.

Jones replaced Bratney to start the bottom of the 6th in a try for another save, but the Panthers managed to tie it as Hadzinsky reached on a force out on a sacrifice attempt, advanced on a wild pitch and a single by Lehman, and scored on Hall's fielder's choice grounder to third.

Semel walked and Ohail singled to left to ignite Chapman's winning rally in the 7th.  Phillips then rapped a sharp ground to third, but in his haste to touch the bag and start a double play, Bailey looked up too quickly and the ball glanced off his glove and down the left-field line as Semel scored.  Adam Kordich delivered two more insurance runs with a single to center that plated Ohail and Phillips.

In a last-ditch effort in the 9th against reliever and winner Semel (2-2), who had replaced Levitt in the top of the 7th, Hunter bounced a one-out double down the third-base line and Kuenzi walked, bringing the heart of the Bruin order to the plate.  Wyckoff, whose right hand was visibly hurting after trying to make a diving catch in left in the first game, grounded out to first, and Thunell was thrown out on a slow chopper to third as the Bruins' season ended one game short of a second trip to the World Series.

Jones (8-2) took the hard-luck loss, but still finished with a George Fox season record of seven saves.  Bailey and Hunter had two of the Bruins' eight hits, while Hadzinsky, who was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player after batting a tournament-leading .579, led the Panthers with two of their 10 hits.

Thunell and Wyckoff were also named to the 11-player All-Tournament Team, along with first baseman Drew Hedman and shortstop Brandon Huerta of Pomona-Pitzer, pitcher Greg Gelber and catcher Richard Michelin of California Lutheran, and third baseman Phillips, outfielders Owens and Pretchl, and pitcher Matt Irsfeld of Chapman.

The Bruins finished the season with a .367 batting average, the second highest in team history only to the 1999 squad's .387, and had a .969 fielding average, both figures ranking among the top 10 nationally.  Kuenzi set the season record for runs scored with 72, and Wyckoff broke the season hits record with 84.