ORANGE, CA – The No. 5 seed University of La Verne baseball team advanced to round two of the 2026 SCIAC Tournament after holding on for a 2-1 win against the No. 4 Chapman University Panthers at W.O. Hart Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Season Impact: La Verne will face the No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Azusa Pacific University, while No. 3 Redlands faces off with the #2 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. The remainder of the tournament is double-elimination. CMS is ranked No. 15 by D3baseball.com and No. 18 by the ABCA.
Live Stream | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Program
Friday, May 8 - Game 4: Friday non-winner Game 2 v. Non-winner Game 3 (3 p.m.) @ highest seed between the two
Friday, May 8 - Game 5: Friday non-winner Game 2 v. Winner of Game 3 (3 p.m.) @ highest seed between the two
Saturday, May 9 - Game 6: Winner of Game 4 v Non-winner of Game 5 (11:00 a.m.)
Saturday, May 9 - Championship game winner Game 5 v. Winner Game 6 (2:00 p.m.)
Sunday, May 10 - If necessary game (11:00 a.m.)
In a classic pitching duel, freshman star
Jack Holguin held the Panthers to two hits, only allowing one earned run while striking out four batters. Chapman starter Luke Bradley pitched eight innings, only surrendering two earned runs off five hits. Holguin improves to 8-1 in his impressive first-year campaign.
Both teams scraped across one run in the first inning.
Ryan Vosika led off with a double down the left field line and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from
Nathan Perry. The tie held until the top of the fourth when
Isaiah Figueroa walked, and eventually crossed the plate when Vosika hit a double down the left field line to give the Leopards the 2-1 lead.
Nico Hamilton relieved
Corbin Duffield on the mound with one out in the bottom of the eighth and the tying run on third base. After issuing a leadoff walk, the Panthers put the go-ahead run on base, but a ground ball hit to Whobrey at first led to a huge force out at home for the second out of the inning. Hamilton then stayed composed on the mound, striking out Chapman's Joey Capobianco to preserve the lead.
After entering as a late defensive substitution,
Jake Ledford made the catch of his career in center field. Chapman's Tate Zimmerman launched a deep fly ball to the warning track, but Ledford tracked it down perfectly, crashing into the wall while hanging on to the ball for a spectacular catch. With the huge first out recorded, Hamilton quickly retired the final two batters of the game to pick up his third save of the season and secure the must-win victory for the Leopards.
