LA VERNE, CA - The University of La Verne baseball team took two commanding wins from the University of Redlands Bulldogs on Saturday at Campus West by scores of 9-2 and 6-2, securing their ninth consecutive SCIAC Tournament appearance while celebrating seven seniors.
Season Impact: With the game one win, the Leopards secured the fifth seed spot in the 2026 tournament. They finish the regular season 22-17-1 overall and 14-10 in conference play. La Verne will travel to Chapman University to face the No. 4 Panthers next Wednesday, May 6, at 3 p.m. in the play-in game. The winner will go on to face the #1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags in round one on Thursday, May 7, at 3 p.m.
Lucas Zayac,
Aidan Salcedo,
Nathan Perry,
Christian Takahashi, and
Aaron Whobrey all totaled four hits each. Perry also knocked in four RBIs while Salcedo collected three. As a team, the Leopards combined for 27 total hits and 15 runs through both games.
Corbin Duffield,
Lucas Quintana, and
Jack Holguin led La Verne on the mound.
Game one: La Verne 9, Redlands 2
Duffield started the crucial game one for the Leopards, tossing a solid five innings, only allowing two earned runs off six hits while striking out three, improving his record to 6-2.
The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning, but the Leopards began to claw their way back into the game quickly. After
Ryan Vosika reached on a fielding error and
RJ Libby singled through the left side, Salcedo brought in the first La Verne run of the day when he singled up the middle to bring in Vosika. Perry followed with a sacrifice fly to score Libby to tie the game. Zayac singled, advancing Salcedo to third, and Isaac Barales hit the Leopards fourth single of the inning through the left side to score Salcedo and give ULV a 3-2 lead.
The Leopards bats stayed hot in the bottom of the fourth, scoring another four insurance runs off four hits. The inning was capped by a Perry RBI triple that sailed over the center fielder's head to give La Verne the 7-2 lead.
La Verne added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Zayac tripled down the left field line for his third hit of the day, and Whobrey,
Alek Bautista, and Takahashi were all hit by pitches consecutively to allow him to cross the plate. They tacked on another run in the next frame when Salcedo doubled, bringing in Libby, who was also hit by a pitch, scoring his second run of the day and widening the gap to 9-2.
Quintana relieved Duffield in the fifth and was lights out, tossing four hitless innings while whiffing four batters, picking up his first save of the season and securing the Leopards' playoff berth.
Game Two: La Verne 6, Redlands 2
Holguin was given the ball for game three of the series, tossing six innings and surrendering only one earned run off five hits with two strikeouts.
La Verne's offense stayed hot in the series finale. After pushing across a run in the bottom of the first, Whobrey and Takahashi opened the third with back-to-back singles. A successful double steal attempt brought Whobrey home. With two outs, the Leopards sparked a rally. Vosika singled to bring in Takahashi, while Libby and Salcedo followed with singles of their own. Salcedo's knock plated Vosika, and Perry capped the inning with a double to right-center, allowing Libby to score and extending the lead to 5-0.
Whobrey doubled in the bottom of the third to push Zayac across the plate, who led off the inning with a single to push the score to 6-0.
Redlands got two back in their half of the sixth inning off three hits and an error, but Holguin stood tall on the mound, getting Redlands right fielder Anthony Thomas to ground into a double play with two runners on. Just needing one out to get out of the traffic jam, the freshman struck out designated hitter Eddy Stone to end the threat and keep the Leopards up by four.
Justin Ries delivered a scoreless inning in relief, while
Nico Hamilton tossed two shutout frames to help power La Verne to their final regular-season win.
