LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne baseball team opened SCIAC play in dominant fashion, sweeping Whittier College in a three-game conference series. The Leopards capped off the weekend with a 7-1 victory in game one of Saturday's doubleheader before outlasting the Poets in a wild 17-15 slugfest in game two, securing the series sweep.
Game One: La Verne 7, Whittier 1
The Leopards set the tone early in the first game of the doubleheader, taking control behind a stellar pitching performance from senior
Ethan Galindo. Galindo was nearly untouchable, tossing seven innings, five of which were scoreless, allowing just four hits while striking out six. His dominant outing, combined with an efficient offense, kept the game moving quickly—wrapping up in just 2 hours and 10 minutes.
La Verne got on the board in the first inning when
Aaron Whobrey was hit by a pitch and later scored on a clutch two-out single from
Nolan Anguiano. The Leopards broke things open in the second, as
Logan Corthell crushed a towering three-run home run to left center.
After Whittier scored an unearned run in the sixth, La Verne answered in the seventh as
Noah Garcia crushed a solo home run that soared to the top of the net in right field. The Leopards added two more insurance runs in the eighth, including an RBI single from
Jason Givens, securing the 7-1 win.
Reliever
Austin Klopfenstein closed out the game, striking out one and allowing just two hits over the final two innings.
Game Two: La Verne 17, Whittier 15
The second game of the day turned into a dramatic, back-and-forth slugfest, with 32 total runs and 40 hits between the two teams. With daylight fading fast, the Leopards knew they had to work quickly—but they also had to fight through an early 7-0 deficit.
Whittier jumped ahead with seven runs in the first two innings, putting La Verne in an early hole. However, the Leopards never wavered, chipping away with one run in the second and two in the fourth to cut the deficit to 7-3.
Then came the explosive sixth inning—a nine-run outburst that completely flipped the game. The rally started with a two-run double from
Ryan Vosika, followed by yet another no-doubt home run from Corthell, this time a two-run shot that cleared the fence with ease. The Leopards then capitalized on a wild pitch and a costly Whittier throwing error, turning a four-run deficit into a 12-11 lead.
Whittier answered back with four runs in the seventh, briefly reclaiming the lead at 15-12. But La Verne refused to let the game slip away.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Leopards staged one final rally. Down 15-12, La Verne erupted for five more runs, highlighted by a clutch two-RBI single from Whobrey, putting the Leopards back on top. Corthell followed with another RBI single, adding to his monster day at the plate.
With daylight running out, Klopfenstein took control on the mound, shutting down the Poets over the final 2.2 innings, striking out six and allowing just one hit to close out the 17-15 win.
Up Next
With a SCIAC series sweep to open conference play, the Leopards (8-1, 3-0) are off to a strong start in league action. They'll look to keep their momentum rolling as they return home to Ben Hines Field to take on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday, March 7, at 3 PM in La Verne, CA.
