AZUSA, CA — The No. 5 seed University of La Verne baseball team took down the No. 1 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags 6-4 in Azusa on Thursday, advancing to the winners' bracket of the 2026 SCIAC Tournament.
Season Impact: La Verne will face the No. 2 seed Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Alumni Field in the winners' bracket. CMS and the No. 3 seed Redlands Bulldogs will play an elimination game at APU at the same time. Pomona-Pitzer defeated Redlands 11-1 in seven innings.
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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.)
Corbin Duffield started for the Leopards, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing four runs off 10 hits while striking out five. CMS starter Kody Perry pitched 5.2 innings, also allowing four earned runs off five hits. Justin Ries picked up his second win while Nico Hamilton recorded his fourth save of the season
Nathan Perry went three for five with a monster solo home run and three RBIs, while Aaron Whobrey and Jake Ledford both collected two hits. Aidan Salcedo also recorded a clutch hit.
In a 1-0 game in the top of the fourth inning, Perry hit a towering solo home run to tie up the game. After Lucas Zayac walked and eventually advanced to third, he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Alek Bautista to give the Leopards a 2-1 lead. But the Stags responded quickly in their half of the frame, evening the score at two runs a team off three hits.
In the top of the sixth inning, Zayac singled up the middle and Isaiah Figueroa walked, setting up Ledford with two runners on and two outs in the top of the sixth inning. He connected for a huge bases-clearing RBI double to regain the lead for La Verne, 4-2.
The Stags knotted it up again in the bottom of the seventh when Alex Henderson hit a two-run shot to left center off Duffield. Justin Ries relieved the righty, getting Rider Gordon to fly out and end the inning with the score tied at four.
The tie held till the top of the ninth when Leopard batters came out swinging off CMS reliever Bryant Smaaladen. After back-to-back singles from Ledford and RJ Libby, the Leopards' two All-SCIAC hitters stepped up. Salcedo hit an opposite field single to right to give La Verne the lead back by one run. Perry extended the lead again when he followed with a single of his own to push the score to 6-4.
Coming fresh off his save in round one against Chapman, Nico Hamilton was perfect in the final frame, striking out CMS's side and securing the 6-4 victory to push the Leopards into the winners' bracket.
