by Vince Wetzel
Sports Writer
It had never been done by a La Verne team or a SCIAC team. It was not even done by the 1972 squad that La Verne Hall of Famer Ben Hines coached to the NAIA National Championship. However, the 1995 La Verne baseball team captured a perfect 21-0 conference record by sweeping a three-game series against Claremont-Mudd, on its way to its first conference championship in 11 years, by defeating the Stags 5-7, 2-0 and 19-6.
“This was a great way to end a magnificent regular season,” said Head Coach Owen Wright. “It’s never been done before. We never gave up at any time. We never caved in at any time.”
The Leos won the first game in the series Friday afternoon by scoring five runs early to win the game, 5-2.
However, in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the bats of La Verne were not connecting and the game remained scoreless going into the top of the fifth inning.
With two outs, Wright decided to pinch-hit senior J.D. Romero. Romero made Wright’s gamble pay off by smashing a solo homerun. Later in the inning, second baseman Mike Smith also scored, to make the score 2-0.
“That hit won the ball game,” said Wright. “He has done that a couple of times. Our offense wasn’t going anywhere and that makes the coach look pretty good—that I made a good decision. But he took a couple of bad swings and I was hoping I didn’t make a bad decision. Then the pitcher makes a bad pitch and boom.”
Romero approached his time at the plate with simple optimism that swung the momentum into the Leos favor with one crack of the bat.
“I didn’t want to strike out,” said Romero, who also starts in the Leo pitching rotation and received the win for Friday’s game. “I was down in the count 1-2 and I just wanted to hit the ball hard.”
With the 2-0 victory, junior pitcher Jeff Doen picked up the shutout win and set up the series and conference finale.
With Greg Vargas pitching, the Leos showed the poise and confidence of true champions in the second game by scoring three runs in the third inning, four runs in the fourth inning, three runs in the fifth inning and a phenomenal eight runs in the eighth inning to win the game by a final score of 19-6.
“Sure, that momentum [from the first game] carried over,” said Wright. “It is the nature of baseball sometimes. The ball just dropped in the right spots. You hate to pour it on, just in case the shoe is on the other foot. I am glad we kept under 20.”
With the final win, La Verne accomplished an undefeated conference season that now establishes them as one of the best teams in La Verne history. Wright feels this team ranks with his 1984 and 1987 teams, which he considers his best throughout his years at La Verne.
“It makes it better because they are good friends off the field,” said Wright. “It makes a world of difference. All 23 guys really like each other.
“It has been a phenomenal dream season. In order to accomplish this feat, especially in baseball, you need to have skill, definitely, but also a lot of luck,” he said.
It is not only the coach who has a perspective on what the team has done by going 21-0 in SCIAC. The players also realize the significance of this season.
“It was a great experience to go undefeated in conference,” said senior first-baseman and designated hitter Jeff Polinsky. “I figured we had a good chance. We had a strong year and hopefully we will continue into the playoffs.”
Since the Leos had not won the conference title since 1989, they started the season by placing the SCIAC title as their primary goal for the season.
“Our first goal at the beginning of the season was to finish the season and win SCIAC,” said left fielder Dave Madrid. “However, after we realized that we had the opportunity to finish 21-0, our goal was to go undefeated in conference.”
During the past few seasons, the team to beat in the conference was Cal Lutheran. The Leos drew the Kingsmen in the first conference series. La Verne swept the defending SCIAC champions and made themselves the frontrunners for the conference crown.
“It is sweet to win the conference title,” said Wright. “The last few seasons we have finished second or third while Cal Lu dominated the conference. By sweeping the series with them, we served notice that we were to be reckoned with.”
The Leos will likely have to face the Kingsmen once again in the Western Regionals. Although La Verne has swept them before, they feel it is important for them not to lose focus.
“Cal Lu has a couple guys back who did not play in the first series,” said Polinsky. “We don’t want to overlook them, but [we want to] stay focused and intense and take the best of five series.”
This weekend, the third-ranked Leos will play in a non-conference tournament against Redlands, Whittier, Claremont and UC San Diego at Claremont and at Ben Hines field. After that, the team will have to wait until May 18, when they will play in the West Regionals. The site has yet to be determined, but seems likely to be held at La Verne.
Following the regionals, the winner goes on to the College World Series in Salem, Va. However, that gives the team over two weeks of practice without playing against other teams.
“We will have to keep practicing during that time and just play against each other,” said Polinsky. “It will be tough with finals but that is what we have been working for all season.”
Vince Wetzel
