LA VERNE, CA — The No. 10 University of La Verne baseball team rallied in the second and sixth innings to beat the Whittier College Poets 8-3 Friday afternoon.

The Leopards improved to 23-9-1 overall and 15-4 in the SCIAC to hold on to first place. The Poets fall to 15-19-1 and 10-9.

The Salcedo brothers hit a pair of triples to drive in the first four runs for the Leopards. Aiden Salcedo tripled to right center with the bases loaded to put La Verne up 3-0 in the second inning.

After the Poets responded in the next inning with a three-run bomb to right field to even the game, La Verne took the lead for good in the fourth off a triple from Anthony Salcedo. The elder Slacedo brother hit sharply down the right-field line to score Aiden.

Niko Urquidi struck out 11 batters in six innings of work to pick up his third win of the season. It's the second time this season the freshman has struck out 11 or more batters. He set his career-high 13 strikeouts in a win against Pacific.

Logan Reese finished with three hits for the second game in a row. He added one run and one stolen base.

Austin Klopfenstein was clutch in two innings of relief, striking out three of the six batters he faced.

La Verne took advantage of Whittier's miscues and used smart base running to plate four more runs in the sixth. Back-to-back Poet errors with a wild pitch mixed in allowed Nathan Garcia and Ryan Vosika to score and extend La Verne's lead to 6-3. The Leopards capped the scoring by executing a double steal with runners on the corners. Reese darted towards second and drew the Poets' attention. Matthew Diaz raced home and slid under the tag to add another run. Diaz did his part at the plate earlier in the inning, singling in Malachi Francois.

Next Game

The Leopards continue their series with the Poets tomorrow at Whittier in a doubleheader beginning at 11 am.