Chapman Batters Close Baseball Season With a Bang

After struggling most of the season, the Chapman baseball team finally has broken out of its slump. The Panthers have won six in a row and seven of eight.

“Early in the year, we’d get down a few runs and we wouldn’t fight back really well,” Coach Rex Peters said. “Now we’re hitting really good with guys on base. We’ve hit two grand slams in the last two weeks.”

First baseman Don Disbro and designated hitter Miguel Galaz are the hottest Panthers.

Disbro, a senior from Mission Viejo High and Rancho Santiago College, was 11 for 19 with three home runs and 10 runs batted in during four road victories last week. Disbro leads the team in batting average (.389), home runs (eight) and RBIs (36).

Galaz, a senior from San Pedro, had 10 hits in 16 at-bats last week and is batting .364.

Chapman has hit 10 home runs and scored 60 runs in the past six games.

“We’ve always had the potential to do this,” Peters said. “We’ve got some power. It was just a matter of one of the guys getting really hot and everybody jumping on board with him.

“Things are kind of contagious right now.”

Chapman has 30 home runs in 32 games. Matt McCready, a junior from Rancho Santiago and Los Amigos, has three home runs in the last six games. McCready and Brad Martin, a redshirt freshman from Katella, each have seven home runs this season.

*

Chapman’s pitching also has improved lately. Ralph Lopez pitched a four-hitter in an 8-0 victory at Menlo, the Panthers’ first complete-game shutout of the season. Carlos Cevallos, Allistair Ray and Raul Guzman have been strong in the bullpen, Peters said.

*

Unfortunately for Chapman, the season is nearly over. The Panthers (14-18) have four games remaining, including two at UC San Diego Friday and Saturday.

Before the season, Peters, in his second year as coach, believed the Panthers had a decent shot at 20 victories. Instead, he is being forced to settle with a marginal improvement over last season’s 10-25-1 finish.

“We’re just trying to finish strong,” Peters said. “We’re trying to get better every year. We know this isn’t going to happen overnight.”

*

Showdown: The Southern California College softball team (32-15, 10-2 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) is percentage points ahead of Azusa Pacific (11-3 in conference) in first place.

The teams meet Saturday in a doubleheader at Azusa Pacific. SCC has won the last two conference titles; Azusa Pacific won in 1992 and ’91.

*

Record run: Chapman’s Christi Carvin set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational last weekend. Carvin finished second in her heat in 1 minute 8.38 seconds. She also finished second in her 100-meter heat in a personal best 13.34.

College Division Notes

The Southern California men’s tennis team is ranked 15th in the latest NAIA national poll. . . . Chapman had a few notable marks in the final statistical rankings for NCAA Division III basketball. The women’s team finished seventh in field-goal shooting percentage with a school-record 46.0%. Debbie Nilsen finished 20th in free-throw percentage (82.0%) and had the second highest single-game assist performance (14). For the men, Adam Dzierzynski was seventh in assists with 7.5. He had the nation’s highest single-game assist performance with 24. . . . For the 13th consecutive summer, Southern California College men’s basketball coach Bill Reynolds is director for the Irvine Boys and Girls Club’s basketball camp. The camp, June 26-30, offers instruction in basketball fundamentals for boys and girls entering grades three through eight. The fee is $100. For more information, call 551-8214.