FOREST GROVE, Ore.- Pacific baseball will begin their pursuit for the West Region crown on May 20 at 11 a.m. when they face top-seeded Chapman at Hart Park to open the regional tournament.
 
The Boxers will meet three teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), Chapman, Cal Lutheran, and Pomona-Pitzer in Orange, Calif. The winner of the regional will advance to the Super Regionals held on May 27-28, where they will face the winner of LaGrange (GA) and Centenary (LA) for a spot in the College World Series.
 
Familiar Territory
 
Pacific returns to the postseason for the second straight season after capturing another Northwest Conference Tournament Championship. After earning a share of the regular season title, the Boxers had to rally from the losers' bracket and defeat Linfield twice on Championship Sunday to earn the automatic bid. It has been nearly three weeks since Pacific has played a game so they will be eager to return to action and avenge last year's late defeat in the regional championship. 
 
The Boxers are 6-1 against teams from California this season (Occidental and Whittier), but have yet to play any teams from the top half of the SCIAC. The SCIAC has made some noise on the national stage recently, with two national titles coming out the conference in the last five years (Cal Lutheran – 2017, Chapman – 2019). 
 
Pacific will look to use the long ball to their advantage at Hart Park as they have mashed 62 home runs as a team, which ranks seventh in the nation. First Team All-NWC selections Isaac Lovings (Senior/Beaverton, OR) and Ryan Krout (Senior/Washougal, WA) have each recorded double-digit home run totals with 11 apiece.
 
Tyler Quinn (Junior/Mililani, HI) currently leads the team in hitting with his team-high .340 batting average and Ty Yukumoto (Freshman/Waipahu, HI) is right behind him at .339. Leadoff hitter Cole Strober (Senior/Pacific City, OR) is coming off an incredible performance in the NWC Tournament where he went 6-for-11. The speedy outfielder is perfect in stolen base attempts and leads the Boxers with 16 steals.
 
Pacific holds the second-best team ERA (3.96) of the four teams in the field. Starting pitchers Kahi Bisho (Senior/Honolulu, HI) and Will Clark (Junior/Boise, ID) were tabbed First Team All-NWC after anchoring the NWC's top pitching staff. Bisho has tossed 55.2 innings to a 2.91 ERA, racking up 55 strikeouts and Clark has thrown the most innings on the staff (65.2) while posting a 6-2 record.
 
Tyler Agnew (Junior/Folsom, CA) has enjoyed an excellent junior campaign with a team-best 1.99 ERA in his 31.2 innings of work. He has made 14 appearances out of the bullpen and Head Coach Brian Billings will look to utilize the right hander in some big spots this weekend.
 
 
#1 Seed Chapman | 31-11 (19-5 SCIAC)
 
Pacific has played Chapman three times since 2017, with two of those meetings taking place on neutral ground in Arizona. The Panthers have got the better of Forest Grove's team in two of those three contests and went on to stand on top of the Division III baseball world with their National Championship in 2019.
 
The hosts are currently ranked 17^th in the nation by D3Baseball.com. Chapman rattled off 10 straight wins prior to the conference tournament, sweeping Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer, and La Verne in their final three SCIAC series to win the regular season title and eclipse the 30-win mark for the third consecutive season. The Panthers suffered a shocking exit from the SCIAC Tournament, dropping two straight contests on their own turf. 
 
They are the best offense coming in to the tournament with a team batting average of .338 and have also posted the best ERA at 3.74. The Panthers have two players hitting over .400 with Davis Mieliwocki hitting .416 and Cole Minato posting a .403 clip. Cooper Foard has mashed a team-high 10 home runs while playing some solid defense behind the plate.
 
SCIAC Pitcher of the Year Wyatt Thompson headlines the top group of arms in the west. He is 8-1 with a 2.39 ERA this season, but recently allowed eight runs in 3.2 innings when Chapman was eliminated from the conference tournament. Grant Manning is likely to start the opening game of the tournament. The tall righty has pitched the most innings (90.1) on the team while posting a 7-1 record and ERA of 2.99.
 
#2 Seed Pomona-Pitzer | 29-12 (15-9 SCIAC)
 
Pomona-Pitzer comes into the tournament as Pacific's most familiar foe, as they have faced each other eight times since 2011. The Sagehens lead the series 5-3, but the Boxers have won three straight contests against PP heading into this weekend.
 
Pomona-Pitzer spent most of the season in the top-25 but slipped out after getting swept by Chapman and dropping the series to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to close out the regular season. They bring a high-octane offense to the regional with 55 homers and .330 average. The Sagehens have scored 383 runs which ranks 25^th in the nation while notching 9.3 runs-per-game, the 18^th best tally in Division III.
 
David Bedrosian and Isaac Kim are the big bats in the middle of the order as both are hitting near the .400 mark with double-digit home runs. Pitching could be seen as an area of weakness for the Sagehens with a team ERA of 5.31. Harry Deliyannis and Jake Hilton have impressed with seven wins each and ERAs of 4.24 and 4.46 respectively.
 
 
#3 Seed Cal Lutheran | 29-14 (15-9 SCIAC)
 
Pacific last played Cal Lutheran in 2017, where they suffered a 12-0 defeat to the eventual National Champions. The Kingsmen are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since their 2017 National Championship run. They came into the SCIAC Tournament has the four-seed and won three straight games to snatch the trophy and the automatic berth in the regional.
 
Cal Lutheran has defeated Chapman four times in five meetings this season, including a thrilling 4-3 victory over the hosts in the opening round of the conference tournament. They fell twice to Pomona-Pitzer in early April but rallied to win four of their last five series to gain some momentum going into postseason play.
 
Catcher Brendan Durfee has emerged as of one Cal Lutheran's most important players down the stretch with his team-leading .369 batting average and commanding presence behind the plate. Max Heverly came through with some important swings on Championship Sunday and boasts a .345 average with 12 doubles and four home runs. Designated hitter Jalen Parks blasted two home runs in the championship game and has a team-high seven bombs.
 
Cal Lutheran's pitching staff has been solid as of late with starting pitchers Chris Torres, Alexander Rivas, and Max Kendall enjoying some postseason success. Two-way player Will Watson will likely fill a relief role while closer Matt Campo brings his conference-leading eight saves to the tournament. 
 
Up Next
 
Pacific takes on hosts Chapman at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 20 to open the weekend.
Live stats | Live Video
 
Tickets

$10 general admission
Free for children under 12 years of age
 
Tournament Schedule
 
Friday, May 20
Game 1: 11:00 a.m. #1 Chapman vs. #4 Pacific
Game 2: 2:30 p.m. #2 Pomona-Pitzer vs #3 Cal Lutheran
 
Saturday, May 21
Game 3: 11:00 a.m. Loser of G1 vs. Loser of G2
Game 4: 2:30 p.m. Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2
Game 5: 6:00 p.m. Winner of G3 vs. Loser of G4
 
Sunday, May 22
Game 6: 11:00 a.m. Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7: 2:30 p.m. (approx.) Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6 (If Necessary)
 
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