Orange, Calif. - Willamette Baseball jumped out to a big lead in the fourth inning and held on for a 9-5 win against Chapman University.  Luke Piazza and Nate Hamburger homered for Willamette and Charlie Ferbet added four RBIs, including a bases-clearing double in the top of the seventh to seal the victory for the Bearcats. Dylan Turner pitched the first six innings to earn the victory and Matthew Mason earned the save by pitching three scoreless innings to end the game.

Neither team threatened during the opening innings until Willamette was able to break through in the top of the fourth against Chapman starter Matthew Kuromoto.  Piazza got Willamette on the board with a solo home run that was followed by a Drew Baskin double and walk to Joshua Murphy.  After a groundout for the second out, Ferbet singled to score Baskin and Liam O'Connor doubled to score Preston Lau.  Hamburger followed with a three-run homer to give Willamette a 6-0 lead, scoring five of those runs with two outs.

Chapman responded with a home run of their own in the bottom of the inning and scored another run on an RBI double to make the score 6-2.  The home team added three more runs in the sixth to cut the Willamette lead to one and shift the momentum in their favor.  

The Bearcats responded in the top of the seventh, again striking with two outs.  After a strikeout and groundout started the inning, Baskin singled to right and his at-bat was followed by walks to Murphy and Lau.  Batting with the bases loaded, Ferbet blasted a ball to right center that was just out of reach of the right fielder and cleared the bases to give Willamette a 9-5 lead.  

Mason entered in the bottom of the seventh and limited the Panthers to two hits and no runs over his three innings of work, striking out one.  Baskin and Ferbet had two hits to lead Willamette.  Baskin and Lau each scored two runs and Ferbet led with four runs batted in.  In addition to the home runs from Piazza and Ferbet, the Bearcats got doubles from Baskin, Lau, Ferbet, and O'Connor.

Baseball travels to California again next week for three games against Occidental College, with a single game on Friday, March 14th, and a doubleheader on Saturday, March 15th.  They will play a single game on Sunday, March 16th, against the University of Redlands.