by David Sutton
Sports Editor
The University of La Verne’s baseball team won its season-high ninth consecutive SCIAC game Monday, 8-5, against Pomona-Pitzer. Following numerous rain delays over the weekend, the game was finally played last Monday.
In addition to the current streak, the Leos have won 14 of their last 15 conference games.
“The rain took a little zest out of us. We were all ready to play on Sunday,” said Head Coach Owen Wright.
The Leopards came out swinging in the first inning. Three of the first four batters reached base. With two men on base, sophomore outfielder Seth Marrs hit a two-run double to put La Verne on the scoreboard. Junior outfielder David Madrid’s single drove in Marrs and gave his team a 3-0 lead. Pomona would be shut down in the first inning by senior pitcher Jerry Whitaker.
The second inning was not as productive for the Leopards. They did, however, manage to get in a run off a sacrifice fly that scored junior second baseman Mike Smith.
Pomona’s bats began to come alive in the second, when they brought the score to 4-3 on a series of hits.
With two lead-off walks in the third, it appeared as if the Leopards were going to score a lot of runs. However, their only run came off a sacrifice fly by freshman Jake Ganajian that drove in Marrs. The lead increased to 5-3.
The Leopards would score one run in the fifth, while Pomona would close the lead to 6-5. Whitaker appeared tired, allowing the Sagehens to bat around in the inning. As a result, Wright brought in junior reliever George Garcia to finish the inning.
“We had timely pitching and hitting,” said Wright.
Neither team would fair well offensively during the sixth and seventh innings. Pomona threatened in the bottom of the seventh, but came up short. With runners on first and third and one out, they could not manage to get a runner across the plate.
“We were able to overcome mistakes made by coaches and players,” said Wright.
La Verne would manage to manufacture one run in the eighth inning. Greg Vargas lead off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner sophomore Chris Wichryk. Senior outfielder Jeff Eckler hit what appeared to be a sure double-play ball, but poor fielding allowed Wichryk to advance to third and all runners were safe.
Sophomore shortstop Brock Whobrey lined a single down the third base line to score Wichryk. With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter J.D. Romero popped out to end the inning.
With senior Terry Conklin on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, Pomona’s bats were quiet. They would only manage a single.
Going into the last inning the Leopards would add an insurance run off a bases loaded walk surrendered by Pomona pitching.
Pomona got one more chance to bat, as well as a chance to avoid a three game sweep. Conklin would strike out the first batter and get a ground out and a deep fly out to end the game.
Over the weekend, ULV swept the Sagehens at home, 6-4 and 9-2. Vargas went the distance in the first game as the Leos came from a 4-1 deficit.
In the second game of the doubleheader, La Verne sent 12 men to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning to break the game open. Romero struck out nine en route to picking up the victory.
La Verne leads the conference by two games over Occidental College. Overall the Leos are sporting a 12-4 record.
On Wednesday, the Leos ran into trouble in a non-conference game against Azusa Pacific University, losing 16-8.
ULV has a conference bye this week hosting the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth tomorrow at 7 p.m. Dartmouth was ranked No. 24 in preseason rankings by Collegiate Baseball.
The Leopards next SCIAC series will be against Redlands, a team that Wright feels will play his team hard, on March 24.
David Sutton
