LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne baseball team captured their first two wins of the season, sweeping Saturday's doubleheader against the Linfield Wildcats by scores of 10-5 and 16-5.

Nathan Perry racked up eight total hits on the day while Aidan Salcedo and Ryan Vosika both collected three hits and three RBIs each. In game two, the Leopards combined for a total of 17 hits in an offensive explosion.
 
Game 1:  La Verne 10, George Fox 5
 
Andrew Wente delivered a great start in his first appearance of 2026. The right hander went five innings allowing just one on two hits while striking out five. He kept the Wildcats off balance using his fastball-slider combo to pick up the quality start.
 
The Leopards started the scoring first, plating five in the third inning. Jake Ledford sparked the rally with a line drive back up the middle and proceeded to steal second. After advancing to third on a throwing error, Ryan Vosika picked up an RBI as he grounded out too short. The Wildcats then walked Aaron Whobrey, hit Aidan Salcedo with a pitch, and committed a fielding error on an Isaiah Figueroa ground ball, bringing in another La Verne run. That brought up Alek Bautista with two on, and he wasted no time depositing the first pitch over the fence for a three-run bomb. The Leos added a run in the fifth thanks to a Figueroa double driving in Perry.
 
The sixth saw another crooked number as the Leopards pushed across three. Aaron Whobrey led off the inning with a bloop double, followed by an error, two walks, and a hit by pitch to Nathan Perry, Isaiah Figueroa, Lucas Zayac, and Isaac Barrales. 
 
The Leopards scored once more in the seventh when Salcedo was hit with another pitch. Zachary Janczyk came in to pinch run, and Figueroa helped him cross the plate when he singled to center field.
 
Linfield began to make a comeback in the top of the eighth inning, scoring four runs off two hits to close the gap to five runs, but Whobrey made his pitching debut in the ninth, striking out two batters and securing the Leopards' first victory of 2026.
 
Wente picked up his first win of the season while the loss went to Linfield starter Jack Williams.
 
Game 1:  La Verne 16, George Fox 5
 
Game two was a back-and-forth affair. Zenan Pena took the mound after pitching a brief stint in game one. Linfield began the game with two leadoff singles that eventually came around to score when third baseman Wyatt McClory singled to center field, but the Leopards answered right back in their half of the first when Vosika and Whobrey drew leadoff walks, and Perry doubled down the right field line, tying things up at two.
 
The Leopards extended their lead in their next at bats, scoring two more runs off three hits, but this time it was Linfield's turn to answer back. The Wildcats scored two runs off one hit and an error, evening the score again, this time at four runs apiece. 
 
The tied score held until the top of the fifth inning when Jaxson Kister reached base and came around to score on an error to give Linfield the one run lead, but Perry quickly knotted it back up, hitting an RBI single through the right side and driving in Salcedo, who had doubled to center.
 
La Verne broke the score open in their half of the sixth. Levi Altamirano led off the inning with a single to right and Roman Miranda followed with a double down the left field line. After a Linfield pitching change, Robbie Fintland walked to load the bases for Vosika who singled, bringing in Altamirano and Miranda, who scored on a throwing error. Salcedo and Perry both singled while Salcedo picked up an RBI when Vosika crossed the dish. Salcedo scored his second run of the day off an Alek Bautista pinch hit RBI single to give the Leopards the lead 9-5. 
 
Much like the sixth, Salcedo, Perry and Bautista displayed their offensive talent. Salcedo singled through the left side, bringing in another two runs in his third hit of the game. Perry singled for his fourth knock to load the bases and Bautista walked, adding another three runs to the Leopards side of the stat sheet and extending their lead 12-5. 
 
La Verne began to run away with the lead in the bottom of the eighth, when they scored four more runs on three hits, including Perry's fifth hit and fourth RBI of the game.
 
The win went to Nico Hamilton, who tossed three clean innings and struck out four while Jacob Bishop took the loss for Linfield.
 
Words from Head Coach Scott Winterburn:
 
"We're feeling pretty good about these wins," said Winterburn. "I'm looking at the progress we're making and believe we're doing good things out there." 
 
Next Game

La Verne will finish out their four-game series against Linfield tomorrow at 11 AM.