The University of La Verne baseball team fell to Cal Lutheran, 7-5 on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to their Sunday matinee game, ULV had split their two away games to the Kingsmen on Saturday. La Verne lost the first game 13-5, but came back to split the series at 1-1 in game two with a final of 3-2.
“It was a tough series,” said shortstop Jackson Mehl. “It was hard to go down like that that but we still got a shot.”
The following day, the Leopards took lead in bottom of the third. With two outs, outfielder Brad Licher got picked off first base when Kingsmen pitcher Danny Caldwell used a fake pick off to third base then threw to first.
However, Licher stood in the pickle long enough for Kyle Johnson to steal home.
With the Leos in lead 3-0, Kingsmen quickly came back at top of the 4th with a run bringing the score 3-1.
The Leopards kept the lead with starter Ryan Rose battling with hitters all afternoon.
In the bottom of the fifth, infielder Trevor Boucher got a hit to the right side, allowing Jason Munoz to score moving the score to 4-1.
In the eighth inning the Leopards lost the lead by giving up four runs.
Kingsmen narrowed the gap 5-2 before reliever Grant Wheatley came in for Rose.
With six hits and five runs, Cal Lu fought back to take the lead 6-5.
Mark Simmons was brought out of the bullpen in ninth inning for Wheatley. The Kingsmen did not slow down momentum as outfielder Lee Ellis hit a solo home run to left field. As a result, Cal Lutheran was able to protect their lead for the remainder of the game.
The Leopards could not gain back the lead, losing Sunday’s home game, 7-5.
“Destiny of winning first in conference is still in our hands,” Simmons said. “We are going to keep doing what we are doing to finish off the season.”
Leopards still hold the first place seat in SCIAC with a 13-5 record in conference. The remainder of the season holds a final match-up against Whitter.
The series will begin today at 3 p.m. before returning back to Ben Hines field for their final two match-ups of the season.
“We realize what’s on the line this weekend,” Munoz said.
Mercedes Bermudez can be reached at mbermudez@ulv.edu.
