Chapman was at his best and most resilient from the start. The 24-year old right-hander gave up a leadoff triple to Matt Angle in the bottom of the first inning before striking out Ryan Adams, All-Star Joe Nowicki and Tyler Henson.
While Chapman was at his sharpest, the BlueClaws offense did their part to ensure victory. Lakewood notched 10 hits, including seven by the bottom four hitters in the order. Karl Bolt, Herman Demmink and Joel Naughton each had a pair of hits. Pinch-hitter Travis Mattair, who entered for Demmink in the ninth inning, also had a hit.
The BlueClaws separated themselves late against reliever Brian Parker. Bolt led off the ninth inning with a double before Mattair and Naughton followed with hits. They got the help of an error and a passed ball to score two runs and manufacture a 4-0 lead.
The 'Claws picked up two runs against All-Star right- hander Sean Gleason. Gleason (3-1) lasted seven innings, but gave up seven hits and got no support from his offense in his first loss of the season.
Sergio Escalona pitched two innings in relief for the BlueClaws, allowing just one hit. Closer Jared Simon finished out the ballgame with a 1-2-3 frame, including two strikeouts. It was just the second shutout of the season for the BlueClaws. The only other scoreless performance came on May 23 against Greensboro.
The win marked the 37th of the season for the BlueClaws (37-31), matching a first-half team high. The loss dropped Delmarva to three games behind Lake County with just two first half games to play. Greensboro is now the only team that can catch the Captains. With results on Friday night still pending the Captains led the Grasshoppers by just two games.
The BlueClaws will try to pass Delmarva (37-30) in the standings on Saturday night at 7:05. Darren Byrd (0-0) will make his final start of the first half for the BlueClaws, while right-hander Luis Noel (6-1) will take the hill for the Shorebirds.