by Vince Wetzel
Sports Writer
With the conference title won and a monumental 21-0 conference season behind them, the ULV baseball team swung into its final weekend of play before the NCAA Division III playoffs in two and a half weeks.
In the four games in the Claremont Invitational, the Leos took three by beating Whittier, 6-4, Redlands, 16-4, and Claremont, 7-2. However, they lost the third game in the tournament to UCSD 3-0, when Triton pitcher Ryan Ward gave up only two hits and one walk.
“When the pitcher allows only two hits and walks one, it is going to be tough to win the ball game,” said Head Coach Owen Wright. “We never got a guy past second base and they didn’t allow any errors. To win a ball game like that you have to be pretty good.”
In the game against the Tritons, ULV did not execute the way they wanted. Ward took the team out of its game and picked up the win, while J.D. Romero got the loss, even though he had six strike outs in the game.
“I was disappointed by the mental mistakes this weekend,” Wright said. “They did well, playing the little game. They had bunt, hit and run and base running execution. San Diego beat us on execution and we lost on execution,” he said.
Wright believes the team had a let down after finishing the conference undefeated the weekend before.
“The team had won 15 games in a row,” he said. “The players felt that they were invincible and that nobody could beat us. However, in the long run, that is going to hurt you.
“After that game, I asked them ‘How did it feel?’ Of course they felt like crap. You have to know how it feels to lose. If you don’t know how it feels then you don’t know the bad feeling that comes along with losing.”
Nonetheless, Wright feels that the loss to UCSD may actually help the team when it begins the Western Regionals against Cal Lutheran on May 18. He hopes that the loss will get the team refocused and driven for that best of five series.
“During practices (the week before the tournament) the players were just going through the motions, being lackadaisical,” said Wright. “If we have those type of practices again, I can throw at them, ‘Remember how you felt when we lost.’ Hopefully that loss will be a good thing and make us more focused for the playoffs.”
In the first game of the Claremont Invitational, La Verne went up against the Poets of Whittier College, Jerry Whitaker picked up the win, pitching eight and a third innings while Terry Conklin got the save.
“Whittier brought out their top pitcher for us,” said Wright. “He was a good pitcher, but we swung the bats well.”
In the second game, the bats were hitting everything as the Leos picked up 16 runs off 20 hits. The Leos started the game swinging when the first four batters at the bottom of the first inning scored. From there, they scored runs in all but two innings.
“Against Redlands, we hit the ball well,” said Wright. “They didn’t have good pitching and we were able to take advantage of it.”
After the loss to UCSD, the Leopards bounced back to beat Claremont in the final game of the tournament. Greg Vargas picked up the win, while George Garcia got the save.
La Verne finished the season with an overall 32-8 record and ranked third in the nation.
Vince Wetzel
