ORANGE, Calif. — Cal Lutheran Baseball had an early lead, but Chapman made a comeback and put on the finishing touches, in a 4-run eighth, and defeated the Kingsmen 8-2 on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Panthers claimed the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Kingsmen will have to wait and see if the NCAA committee gives them an at-large berth. 

In the double-elimination format, the Kingsmen needed two wins against the Panthers today. The Purple and Gold scored a run in the first and third innings and had the lead through 4.5 innings and the second game was in sight. 

Nick Fusari tripled to lead off the game and Cal Lutheran scored right away as the second batter, Kyle Reuser, singled to left field. 

Chapman tied the game in the bottom of the inning, with Cal Lutheran taking the lead, again, in the third. 

Harrison Dunkel walked to start the inning and advanced to second on an error by the pitcher and also went to third. Fusari made it a run and a RBI, on the day, as he lined out to left, scoring Dunkel.

The Kingsmen pitchers kept the Panther's batter under wraps for the first half of the game. However, the Panthers took the lead in the fifth with two runs and added one more in the sixth. 

Chapman broke the game wide open in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four runs, and had a commanding lead.

Cal Lutheran had five different pitchers take the mound as they tried to quiet the Chapman bats. The Purple and Gold gave up 15 hits, as the Panthers got the best of Cal Lutheran today.  

Box Score: CU 8, CLU 2
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director