LA VERNE, CA — The Leopards are the 2024 SCIAC Regular Season Champions. 

The University of La Verne baseball beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9-5 in Saturday's opener to claim the title. The win marks La Verne's 23rd SCIAC Regular Season Championship. The win also marks the Leopards' first back-to-back championship since the 2004-2005 seasons.

The Leopards end the regular season 26-11-1 and 18-6 in the SCIAC. La Verne has won 25 or more games five seasons in a row, not including the 2020 and 2021 COVID-shortened seasons. 

"You gotta play the whole season, it's a long one. All the series seem to matter. Thrilled that we were able to win the SCIAC this year. Our guys definitely deserved it. They've worked really hard," said head coach Scott Winterburn.

With the win the Leopards, ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division III by D3Baseball.com and No. 12 by the ABCA, earned the top seed in next week's SCIAC Postseason Tournament. La Verne also earns hosting rights for the duration of the double-elimination tournament.

La Verne will face No. 4 seed Cal Lutheran on Thursday, May 9 at 3 p.m. The winner will face the winner of No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, May 10 at 3 p.m. at the higher seed's home field. The losers of the first round will face off in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Friday at the higher seed's home field.

Games three and four will be held on Ben Hines Field on Saturday, May 11 at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. If needed, game seven will be held on Sunday at noon at Hines Field.

"If we tighten up some things on defense and keep putting the pressure on the offensive side of the ball like we have been, I think we'll be competitive. All these guys care so much and they're so much fun to be around and coach. We play an exciting brand of baseball. Please come out and support us," Winterburn added.

Matthew Diaz led the Leopards with three RBIs in the win, driving in all three in the first four innings to help put La Verne up 5-0. Diaz finished 4-5 with a double and a run.

Reigning SCIAC Hitter of the Week Malachi Francois and catcher Matt Rice added a pair of RBI triples. Francois blasted a shot to right center that bounced off the top of the wall and sent him barreling around second and sliding head-first into third. Francois earned the SCIAC weekly award after hitting two home runs at The Master's University last week. Rice connected in the eighth down the right field line. The ball bounced just inside the line and into the corner, giving Rice time to slide into third.

Logan Reese and Anthony Salcedo both made highlight-reel defensive plays. Reese set the tone from the first out of the game, hustling from right field and sliding into the fence to make a spectacular catch. In the fifth, Salcedo made a somersaulting stop behind second base and flipped the ball to Ryan Vosika for the third out of the inning. Salcedo finished with two hits, two runs, two walks, and RBI.

Noah Garcia, Nathan Perry, and Francois all finished with two hits.

The Stags didn't go away easily. They scored two runs in the seventh to cut La Verne's lead to 7-5 but stranded three runners to end the inning. They threatened again in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs following a hit by pitch, walk, and error. But relief pitcher Austin Klopfenstein met the challenge, struck out the next two batters, and forced a groundout fielder's choice to end the Stags' chances.

Klopfenstein pitched the final two innings, struck out three, and earned his third save of the season. Chase Pedersen picked up the win in two and two-thirds innings of relief with one strikeout. Gerald Terry struck out two in his start and Garret Halbeisen struck out two in relief work.

Game Two: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 12, La Verne 10

The Leopards battled in the final game of the regular season but couldn't hold off a pair of late runs from the Stags to conclude a marathon day at Hines Field.

The Leopards and Stags combined for 19 hits in the game.

Francois put together another incredible offensive performance. The junior finished 2-3 with a double, three RBIs, three runs, and a walk.

Logan Reese drove in three runs. Ryan Vosika finished with three hits, two runs, and an RBI. Perry finished with two hits and two runs. Aiden Salcedo went 2-2 with a double and a run.