Three positive COVID-19 tests present minor setback in baseball’s season

After two baseball players tested positive for COVID-19 April 15, their season looked to be in jeopardy. But after contact tracing and quarantine measures were put in place, they resumed play April 23. Panther Archives

For the first time during the pandemic, Chapman has seen an athletic team publicly suffer a COVID-19 outbreak in its locker rooms.

Two Chapman baseball players — both of whom The Panther was unable to confirm the identities of, due to health privacy restrictions — tested positive for COVID-19 April 15. One more tested positive April 19. In total, three players tested positive and six more were placed in a 14-day quarantine, according to Pam Gibbons, Chapman’s director of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine.

The Panthers were set to play a three-game set against the University of Redlands — one game at Redlands April 16 evening and then a doubleheader at home April 17. However, with the news, those plans quickly fell by the wayside.

“We were notified by Student Health Services that a player had tested positive,” Gibbons said. “With one positive test, we felt we could wait to make a decision on the game, but when we got a second positive, we felt it was the right thing to do to cancel the game.”

The team was disappointed at the outcome, particularly given that their next game would serve as the beginning to play against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) teams. However, they won’t lose their chance to return to the field as they started a three-game set against California Lutheran University April 23 where the Panthers took two out of the three games.

“It was a big initial reaction from all of us,” said sophomore pitcher Grant Manning. “We were really looking forward to the weekend and league play.”

Head coach Scott Laverty was impressed at the university’s protocol in place to fix the problem as soon as it started.

“It was Thursday when we heard the news and (the athletic department) had a plan Friday morning,” Laverty said. “It was great to know everyone quarantines through Sunday, then tests Monday and if they’re negative, we’re good to go.”

Waiting for that second round of tests Monday, April 19, proved to take a mental hit to players on the team, who had to reset and hope everyone tested positive so further games wouldn’t be canceled. 

“It was definitely hard, especially after getting pumped up and psyched for the weekend,” Manning said. “We had to revamp our mentality and stay sharp for Monday.”

All but one test came back negative that April 19, and contact tracing measures put into place by the Student Health Center allowed them to quickly identify anyone else at risk, according to Gibbons. Two days later on April 21, as no positive tests were returned, baseball was granted permission to return to practice with a diminished roster of 26, as nine other players are quarantining to minimize risk.

While it’s not ideal for any team to have to handle an outbreak, Gibbons believed the athletic department did as best they could with the task at hand: keeping Chapman athletes safe and healthy.

“I think it went as well as can be expected,” Gibbons said. “The athletic department has worked really closely over the last 13 months to be sure we have good protocols in place.”

Moving forward, baseball is confident they’ll bounce back and pick up where they left off and hope to not suffer any more outbreaks.

“We’ve had multiple players already be positive and seven or eight get the vaccine,” Laverty said. “Keeping our fingers crossed and knock on wood, I think we’ll be able to limit it and move on from there.”