2005 NCAA Division III Baseball West Regional
2005 Tournament Statistics
Chapman Posts back to back complete games to Reach Championships in Wisconsin
ORANGE, Calif. – Texas Lutheran’s aspirations for a NCAA DIII College World Series berth ground to a halt Saturday as No. 2 ranked Chapman posted 7-3 and 8-0 wins over the Bulldogs to advance to the national championship tournament in Appleton, Wisc. Chapman, the regional’s top seed and the 2003 national champion, received back-to-back complete game performances from Scott Akamine and Billy Sulentor. After Akamine was touched up for three runs in the first inning of game one, the senior right-hander and Sulentor, a senior left-hander, tossed a combined 17 consecutive shutout innings against the Bulldogs. Chapman (36-9) needed two wins Saturday over Texas Lutheran (35-10) to reach the DIII World Series.
The Panthers lost the opening game of the West Regional but battled back to win four consecutive elimination games. Chapman defeated Linfield (Ore.) and LaVerne (Calif.) on Friday and downed Texas Lutheran twice Saturday. Texas Lutheran advanced to Saturday’s championship games with a win Thursday over Linfield and a win Friday over LaVerne. “Having advanced to this point and being one win away from the College World Series of course we’re very disappointed at this time, but I think that after some time to reflect we’ll be able to appreciate what a special year we had,” said Bill Miller, Texas Lutheran head baseball coach and athletic director. “Our team did something that no Texas Lutheran team had ever done before in getting to this point. So I couldn’t be prouder of the guys and the way they played this year.”
In both of the Chapman wins Saturday, the first inning was the difference. Chapman scored five runs in the first inning of game one off TLU starter Adam Enloe. The Panthers started game two with three runs off starter Brian Wallace. After trailing 5-0 in the first inning of game one, Texas Lutheran put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first. Aaron Crais delivered an RBI sacrifice fly, and Chris Dusablon and Brett Cannon each delivered RBI singles. The Bulldogs would get no closer than 5-3. Chapman put two more runs on the board in the top of the second to give Akamine all the run support he would need. TLU reliever Daniel Besa relieved Enloe with two outs in the first inning and pitched the remaining 8-1/3 innings. Besa scattered eight hits and allowed only two earned runs.
Heading into game two, Besa’s pitching work gave the Bulldogs’ hope since TLU had the arms of Brian Wallace, Jeff Paras and Austin Yager available for duty in game two. But TLU promptly trailed 3-0 in game two and fell behind 6-0 after six innings. Those six runs were more than enough for Sulentor, who limited the Bulldogs to five hits and did not allow a runner past second base.
For Texas Lutheran, the American Southwest Conference champion, the season comes to a close after a first-ever ASC title and a first-ever appearance an NCAA regional tournament. The season’s close also brought an end to the careers of seven TLU seniors: Chris Dusablon, Brian Stock, Matt Hunn, Brice Gilmore, Jeff Paras, Marc Savard and John Krog.
2005 West Regional All-Tournament Team
Catcher - J.J. Stolsig , Linfield; Aaron Crais, Texas Lutheran; First Base - John Krog, Texas Lutheran; Third Base - Tyler Dean, Chapman; Shortstop - Ryan Holmes, La Verne; Outfield - Scott Zine Chapman; Marc Savard, Texas Lutheran; Designated Hitter - Brian Baker, Linfield; Pitcher - Scott Lindeen, La Verne; Jeff Green, Chapman; Matt Hunn, Texas Lutheran.
2005 Results