Baseball drops season opener, Smith '08 goes deep in first game as a Poet

Robbie Smith '08 went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double, but Whittier College lost 9-3 to nationally ranked #3 Chapman University in their season opener at Memorial Baseball Field on February 2.

Ryan Martin '08 went 3-for-4 for the Poets.  Blake Coddington '09 and Lorenzo Lopez '09 each doubled and scored a run.  Mike Benavente '09 and Riley Bateman '08 each drove in a run.  Thomas Phelps '09 (0-1) pitched five innings and gave up seven earned runs on 11 hits and two walks and struck out one batter in the loss.  Matt Shwarz '07 and Shonn Kay '09 pitched two innings of relief apiece and combined to allow two earned runs on seven hits.

Chapman got on the scoreboard early, putting up three runs in the first inning.  The Poets picked up a run in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly from Benavente.  The Panthers added to their lead with two runs in the third and one run in the seventh inning.  Smith's homer in the bottom half of the seventh made the score 8-2, but Chapman answered back with another run in the eighth.  With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Poets were able to score one run on Bateman's RBI single, but they were unable to mount a rally to end the game 9-3.

The Poets travel to Chapman for a doubleheader on February 3.  The first game is scheduled to start at 11am.