SportsBaseball

Baseball falls to Azusa Pacific, 4-2

In a controversial play at the plate, Robert Perea is called safe. The Leopards then pushed their score up to 2-1. They finished the Wednesday night game against Azusa Pacific with a loss, 4-2. / photo by Starr Carroll
In a controversial play at the plate, Robert Perea is called safe. The Leopards then pushed their score up to 2-1. They finished the Wednesday night game against Azusa Pacific with a loss, 4-2. / photo by Starr Carroll

by Greg MacDonald
Staff Writer

For two University of La Verne baseball players Wednesday night, the Leopards’ 4-2 loss to Azusa Pacific was more about being heroes than being goats.

La Verne’s freshman catcher Dave LaPeer delivered a two out, two run double off of the right field fence to give the Leopards a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.

“I didn’t want to swing at a bad pitch not in the zone. I just wanted to hit the ball hard somewhere. As soon as I hit it, I wanted it to keep carrying; it felt good,” said LaPeer.

Senior pitcher Andy Loya pitched a perfect bottom of the fourth inning to preserve the lead. He struck out two and set down five of the first six batters he faced.

“I knew [Azusa Pacific] was a good fastball hitting team, so I got them to swing at a few bad pitches and kept them guessing; I hit my spots,” said Loya.

Soon after LaPeer’s and Loya’s heroism, each would play a role in Azusa Pacific’s comeback.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Loya allowed a lead off single to the Cougars. Loya stayed poised on the mound and forced a ground ball right back to him.

Loya turned and threw the ball to his senior short-stop Brock Whobrey. But the throw was in the dirt, and it skipped by Whobrey. That put the Cougars on second base and third base with no outs.

One out later, Azusa Pacific’s senior outfielder Dirk Lewallen hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field to score the unearned run and tie the game at two.

The Cougars started the seventh inning with two runners on and one out. Senior Cougar Dexter Davis hit a ground ball to Leopard sophomore first baseman Eric Britton, who tagged the runner trying to advance to second.

Britton then tried to throw out the runner trying to score from third base, but LaPeer was too far in front of the plate to keep the runner from scoring. That run put Azusa Pacific ahead 3-2 in the seventh and for the remainder of the game.

“They got some runners on, and when they tried to score, I was too far up on the plate to block it,” said LaPeer.

The Cougars went on to add one more run in the eighth inning to cap the win.

“We didn’t play that badly, but we are never satisfied with a loss, even a 4-2 loss,” said head coach Owen Wright. “We gave them a couple of gifts and had no execution of bunting or the hit and run.”

That lack of execution led to 13 strikeouts by La Verne and only four hits, two from Whobrey and two from LaPeer.

This game against the Cougars had a better result from the first time these two teams met. On January 30, Azusa Pacific handed La Verne a 12-1 home loss.

“I thought the morale of the team was low coming into this game, but I’m proud of the team,” said LaPeer. “Last time we lost 12-1, this time it was 4-2. I was proud of the way we played.”

“We could have won this ball game. This was our first game back [from spring break] and it’s good to get a game under our belts,” said Wright.

ULV is 8-4 in league and 11-15 overall on the season.

“That is not a La Verne record,” said Wright.

La Verne plays Claremont today at home at 3 p.m.

The Leopards will play two more games against Claremont on Saturday at Claremont starting at 11 a.m.

The series against Claremont is very crucial, considering that Claremont is 9-3 in league. That means that ULV has a chance to move ahead of the Mudd-Scipps if the Leopards can sweep the series.

Claremont is second in SCIAC, behind Cal Lutheran, which is 11-1.

Greg MacDonald, Editor in Chief
Greg MacDonald
Other Stories
Starr Carroll, Photography Editor
Starr Carroll
Other Stories
Previous article
Times sweeps contest
Next article
Low sales bring ‘One Cheap Night’

Latest Stories

Related articles

Football

Leopards dominate Cougars in season opener, 30-3

The La Verne Leopards beat the Azusa Pacific Cougars, 30-3, on Saturday at Ortmayer Stadium in the Leopards’ season opener. 
Baseball

New minor league team touches down in Ontario

The Ontario Tower Buzzers held their weekly Family Sunday event Aug. 23 at ONT Field.
Baseball

Baseball and softball end seasons at SCIAC tournament

The baseball and softball teams both saw their seasons end last weekend in their respective Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournaments.
Baseball

Leopards sweep Senior Day doubleheader, head to SCIAC tournament

The Leopards dominated during their Senior Day doubleheader against Redlands at Ben Hines Field on Saturday, bouncing back from a series-opening loss to the Bulldogs on May 1. Game one’s final score was 9-2, and game two's score was 6-2.