Danny Eckardt
Staff Writer
Losing has become a regularity for the slumping University of La Verne baseball team, which lost all four of its California Invitational Tournament games last weekend.
The Leopards hosted the 12-team round-robin tournament last Saturday and Sunday, but could not make a showing themselves.
“We were terrible, and it was embarrassing,” said 15-year head coach Owen Wright.
The tournament was won by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, when they defeated Whittier College, 9-7, in 10 innings.
On Saturday, the Leopards’ first game, which was played at ULV’s Ben Hines Field, was a 8-0 white-washing by Whitman College from Walla Walla, Wash.
Eleven Leopards struck out, and ULV only collected two hits.
“Their pitcher dominated the ball game,” said a distraught Wright.
Following a short break after the first game, ULV played Dartmouth, This match-up was also played at home and had a familiar ending, a 14-2 loss.
Unlike its first game, ULV’s effort was cut short at the bottom of the seventh inning because of the 12-run mercy rule.
The rule states that if any team is winning by 12 runs at the end of the seventh inning the game will be called.
Unfortunately, the Leopards had not scored in the last 16 innings (nine innings from the Whitman game and seven in this one), until the bottom of the seventh inning in which they scored two runs.
“When you go 16 innings and don’t score a run, that is terrible,” said Wright. “I don’t think anyone is feeling good about themselves.”
After “hitting the bottom” on Saturday, Wright had his team execute basic fundamentals for Sunday. On Sunday, the Leopards did play better fundamental baseball but still came up short on two one-run losses.
“We are starting to do the little things right,” said junior pitcher Matt Johnson.
In their first Sunday match-up, the Leopards traveled to Pomona-Pitzer’s field in Claremont to play North Central University.
The Leopards lost 8-7, but the game was much closer than the two previous games the day before.
The ULV theme in both games Sunday was one out in the top of the ninth inning with the tying run on second and the winning run on first.
“We played so well that one letdown was the difference of the game,” said Johnson.
As a studied person may have already figured out, the Leopards did not score in the ninth inning, losing both games.
To their dismay, the Leopards stranded 14 runners on base throughout the course of the North Central game.
“We set the table and nobody wants to come and eat,” said Wright.
In its final game of the tournament, ULV played Redlands in Eagle Rock. Once again, the game was decided in the ninth inning by the eact same situation that had plagued the Leopards in the North Central match-up.
The only difference in this game was the score turned out 4-3.
The bright spots in the Redlands game was the pitching performance by Johnson, who went six and a third innings, allowing only three earned runs, and the solo home runs by junior catcher Justin Dospital and sophomore designated hitter Sean Glaze.
“I was hitting my spots, and because of that, I was successful,” said Johnson.
The score was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Dospital gave up the winning run in relief of Johnson.
“On Sunday, we fought back on numerous occasions, and we played with a lot more enthusiasm and desire to win,” said Wright.
The four tournament losses caused the Leopards’ overall record to fall to 5-19 on the season.
The oddest fact about ULV’s record is that it won three of its first five games. Since their three victories, the Leopards have been on a dismal downward spiral.
“We are better than we have been playing,” said Johnson. “Once we start clicking, the league should watch out.”
The Leopards’ next game is today at La Verne’s Ben Hines Field against Whittier at 2:30 p.m.
