LA VERNE, CA — In a battle between two nationally ranked squads and the top teams in the SCIAC, the University of La Verne baseball team won two important games against Pomona-Pitzer, beating the Sagehens 12-1 and 11-6.
Season Impact
The Leopards entered the matchup ranked No. 12 by the American Baseball Coaches Association and No. 14 by D3baseball.com. The Sagehens came into the game ranked No. 6 by the ABCA and No. 12 by D3baseball.com.
The wins improve the Leopards' record to 17-6-1 overall and 10-2 in the SCIAC. The Sagehens fall to 23-8 and 11-4. La Verne takes sole possession of first place in the SCIAC.
Top Series Performers
Aiden Salcedo led the Leopards with five RBIs, all in game two. Logan Reese and Jason Givens both added four RBIs.
Gerald Terry took the win in Saturday's opener, pitching seven with nine strikeouts. Terry leads the SCIAC with a 1.60 ERA.
Matthew Diaz finished the weekend with five hits. He currently leads the SCIAC with a .443 batting average. Logan Corthell, Nolan Anguiano, Nathan Perry, and Reese each added three hits.
Anguiano scored four times, Anthony Salcedo and Corthell scored three times.
From the Coach
"We said at the beginning of the day that it looked like it was going to take a lot of people to win these games. We need a whole team, and it sure ended up that way. You look back on the two games, we used almost our whole bench in major roles. We used almost our whole bullpen.
"It gives you confidence in your people. It's healthy competition. At this time of the year, I think guys stop worrying about their numbers and start pulling for each other, and so what you saw was a big group of guys pulling for each other. It brings the group closer when you're able to use guys and they're in those moments, and a couple of them are coming through in a big way. It brings your team together. That's our formula over the years and it seems like it's coming together at the end.
"To beat an opponent like Pomona, who's a top-10 team in the country, and rightfully so. They've got good arms and good bats and play good baseball over there. So to beat a team like that twice in one day, it's pretty hard to do and should give us confidence going forward," said La Verne baseball head coach Scott Winterburn.
How It Happened
Game 2: La Verne 12, Pomona-Pitzer 1 (seven innings)
The Leopards took advantage of three Sagehens' errors in the fourth and scored nine unearned runs in the inning, on their way to a run-rule win.
Three errors and a wild pitch led directly to La Verne taking a 2-1 lead without needing a hit. But the Leopards' bats connected the rest of the inning to put the game out of reach. Diaz singled in a pair of runs to make it 4-1. With the bases juiced, Aiden Salcedo put a stamp on the inning with a double to center to bring home three. Reese and Anguiano each added RBI singles in the rally.
La Verne poured on three more in the fifth, sparked by a triple by Corthell. Givens walked in a run, and Salcedo added another blast up the middle to score two more.
Game 3: La Verne 11, Pomona-Pitzer 6
The Leopards' took the lead in the sixth and surged ahead in the seventh to complete Saturday's sweep of the Sagehens.
Trailing 5-4 in the sixth, back-to-back errors by Pomona-Pitzer and a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position for the Leopards. Givens stepped in as a pinch hitter and singled through the right side to give La Verne the 6-5 advantage.
The Leopards used six hits in the seventh to plate five more runs and put the game away. After back-to-back singles by Perry and Diaz, Nicolas Skardoutos singled up the middle to extend the lead.
Garcia and Reese followed with RBI doubles to grow the lead to five runs, and Givens finished it with an RBI single.
La Verne used seven pitchers in the win. Gabriel Lucero picked up his second win of the season. Chase Pedersen pitched three innings of relief, and Niko Urquidi closed out the final two.
Game 1: Pomona 10, La Verne 4
La Verne jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third but couldn't hold in the series opener.
The theme of capitalizing off Saghens' miscues started in game one when, with two outs and bases loaded, Givens hit a fly ball to shallow left field. A collision by the Pomona-Pitzer shortstop and left fielder let the three runners score and put another on third. Diaz singled in Givens for the 4-0 advantage.
The lead was short-lived as the Sagehens used six walks, one error, and two hits to score seven in the bottom half of the inning and took the lead for good.
Next Game
La Verne returns to action on Friday, April 19th, at Chapman at 3 p.m.
