Chapman’s Defense Collapses in 6-1 Loss

For Mike Weathers, Chapman College baseball coach, the 1985 season has been a seemingly endless continuum of frustrations.

Just when his Panthers seem to happen on a bit of good fortune, they have repeatedly nullified it by stumbling over a new obstacle.

And Friday afternoon at Hart Park, that nagging trend continued. This time the Chapman defense faltered as it committed four errors, which yielded five unearned runs that erased an impressive starting debut by freshman pitcher Steve Dunn and enabled Cal State Northridge to coast to a 6-1 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. win over the Panthers.

For the Matadors (8-4 in conference play, 28-13 overall), the win was the second straight over Chapman in a four-game set between the teams, which concludes today with a doubleheader at Northridge. Game time for the opener is noon.

“If it’s not one thing, it’s the other,” Weathers said. “All year our offense has been nothing, but we’ve played well defensively. And today we get a pretty good showing from the freshman in his first start, and play poor defensively. It’s always something.”

Dunn, who had appeared strictly as a reliever this season prior to Friday’s game, held the defending NCAA Division II National champions to a scoreless tie through six innings before his defense began its collapse.

After Matador designated hitter Dick Jaquez reached second with a walk followed by a sacrifice to begin the seventh, Panther third baseman Eli Amaya had trouble handling a routine grounder by Gary Williams, putting runners on first and second with one out. That set up an RBI single by Tom McKay, and Dunn exited the game trailing, 1-0, which seemed a considerably sufficient debut for the 6-2 left-hander.

However, a sacrifice fly by Mark Ban--which should have ended the inning--instead scored Northridge’s second run and enabled power-hitting first baseman Paul Kaplan to follow with his 10th home run of the season, a two-run shot which put the Matadors out to a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Chapman’s fielding mishaps continued into the eighth, as two of the first four Northridge hitters to step up to the plate reached first base via a mishandled ground ball. Pinch-hitter Darryl Gilliam and Williams each took advantage with sacrifice flies, which scored two more unearned runs and gave the Matadors a 6-0 advantage.

“In the couple of times we’ve seen Chapman this year,” Northridge Coach Terry Craven said, “that (defense) really hasn’t been a problem for them. But those things happen to teams at times, and luckily we were able to take advantage.”

Craven was also surprised with the trouble his team had in the early innings offensively against an inexperienced pitcher like Dunn.

“It took us a while to get started today,” he said, “but I guess all we needed was that spark to get things going.”

That spark the Panthers gave the Matadors allowed Northridge starting pitcher Tom Harmon a substantial-enough lead to easily pick up a complete-game win, and nearly a shutout. His performance was marred only by a ninth-inning solo homer by Chapman left fielder Craig Kuhse, his ninth.

Harmon (6-2) scattered nine hits and struck out six , keeping the Panther offense in check until the Matadors could get on the scoreboard.

On Harmon’s performance, Weathers said, “It’s certainly been tough for us to score runs off him. I mean, he’s beaten us twice this season. He pitched well.”

Craven was pleased with the 5-11 senior’s showing, despite the fact he needed 120 pitches to wrap up the victory.

“He did a real good job,” he said. “He has a good variety of pitches, so he’s able to keep the hitters off balance. He has a sneaky-type fastball which worked really well for him. He was getting a little tired in the last inning there, and we had two guys ready to go, but considering the situation in the game, there was no reason to take him out.”