Chapman’s Mission Not Impossible, but Rates as a Longshot

With a month remaining in Chapman’s first NCAA Division I baseball season, it’s about time to assess the Panthers’ chances of advancing to the postseason.

It may still be a longshot--only two independent teams received playoff berths last season--but the Panthers are hoping to make it difficult for the tournament selection committee to not select them.

“We’d really have to make a good run to make it tough on them,” Chapman Coach Mike Weathers said, “and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Chapman had a heady early season, defeating Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, Fresno State and Cal State Fullerton in February. Even the news that after next season the baseball program would move to Division III, failed to slow the Panthers for long. After losing, 10-3, to Fullerton on the day of the announcement, the Panthers won eight in a row and moved as high as No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

But the Panthers dropped out of the national rankings after losing consecutive home games to UCLA, California and USC and haven’t returned.

After losing Wednesday to No. 10 Cal State Northridge, 6-0, Chapman is 28-14 with 14 games remaining. The Panthers have a 4-3 record against teams ranked in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll.

So just how good are the Panthers’ chances of making the playoffs?

It’s still too early for a definitive answer but the odds are long.

Dennis Poppe, the NCAA administrator in charge of the tournament, said the selection committee held its first conference call this week to start narrowing the field.

Twenty-four of the 48 berths are automatic spots for conference champions; the committee will assess strength of schedule and use its computerized power ranking to help it fill the remaining spots. Poppe said Chapman is among the 90 to 100 teams still in the running.

But as an independent, the Panthers are at a disadvantage. Last season, Northridge and Miami were the only independents in the field.

“It’s really difficult because if you don’t have a league structure, you don’t have anybody to fight for you,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “You’re out there on your own so you’ve got to be better than everybody else.

“You have to clearly be a superior team in everyone’s mind. You can’t leave any doubt.”

However, even a great record doesn’t assure a team a spot. Notre Dame was 45-16 last season but was left out.

And outside the West, Chapman isn’t a known quantity and therefore might be overlooked, said Lou Pavlovich Jr., editor of Collegiate Baseball magazine.

But Pavlovich said the Panthers’ success against ranked teams should make them a strong candidate for the playoffs.

“(The committee) sure should give them a hard look because it’s amazing what they have done,” Pavlovich said. “It would be tremendous for baseball on the West Coast if they could keep it going and get in.

“I love the underdog anyway.”

The Panthers, who will play San Diego at 2 p.m. today at Hart Park, still have three games against ranked teams (Long Beach, Pepperdine and Fullerton) on their schedule. A long winning streak and victories over the ranked teams would probably improve the Panthers’ playoff chances, but Weathers says he’s already satisfied.

“It’s already been a great year no matter what happens,” Weathers said. “Especially under the circumstances, it’s amazing they have stayed together.”

Breakdown: The Chapman softball team suffered its most embarrassing loss of the season Sunday in the semifinals of the Cal State Bakersfield tournament.

Going into the fifth inning of a game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, freshman pitcher Deann Ford had allowed two hits and the Panthers led, 3-0.

But the Panthers committed four errors and Cal Poly scored 12 runs in the inning. The Mustangs scored five more in the seventh for a 17-3 victory.

Of the 17 runs, only four were earned. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chapman Coach Lisle Lloyd said.

“We’ve been playing well right to the nth point and then we seem to fall apart,” Lloyd said. “I don’t know what is happening.”

What happened was the Panthers dropped out of the NCAA Division II poll this week after being ranked 14th in the previous poll. The Panthers (23-16), the defending California Collegiate Athletic Assn. champions, have also dropped into fifth place in the conference with a 2-6 record.

But Lloyd says all is not lost. Chapman has doubleheaders against last-place Cal State San Bernardino, Saturday and Tuesday. The Panthers also play four more games with San Luis Obispo, ranked 13th in the nation and two each with UC Riverside and No. 1 Cal State Bakersfield.

“We could still do it,” said Janet Lloyd, assistant coach. “We have two teams--a good team and a bad team--it just depends on which one shows up.”

Notes

The Golden State Athletic Conference executive committee is scheduled to meet this morning in Pasadena to determine whether Christ College Irvine and Azusa Pacific will play a disputed baseball doubleheader. The games were originally rained out March 21 and numerous attempts were made at rescheduling them before the conference set April 3 as the date. Azusa Pacific decided not to show April 3 and is disputing whether it should forfeit the games. The teams are tied for first in the conference with 10-3 records. . . . CCI infielder Armando Diaz was named the NAIA District 3 player of the week after batting .462 with five doubles and five RBIs in four victories for the Eagles. . . . Chapman catcher Larry Stahlhoefer leads the Panthers with 11 home runs and 52 RBIs. He has a .309 batting average. Buster Nietzke leads the Panthers with a .324 average. Jason White is next with .321. Chris Briones is batting .312 with five home runs. . . . Sandy Olivas, an All-American for Chapman’s softball team last season, continues to be an offensive force. Olivas, a third baseman, is batting .494 with six home runs and 33 RBIs. Left fielder Christy Wurster is batting .421 with 16 RBIs.