Leopards struck by curse of Frisco

by Chrissy Zehrbach
Assistant Editor

With a seven-game winning streak on their record, the University of La Verne baseball team packed up and headed north to face competition in the Bay Area, only to suffer four losses on the road.

"It seemed like we had some momentum going," said head coach Scott Winterburn. "We hit well enough and had good enough defense to beat any of those teams; we just didn't get it done on the mound."

The Leopards struggled throughout the week and were defeated by Menlo College, 7-3, and San Francisco State, 13-9. They also dropped two games to Cal State Hayward, 6-3 and 13-2.

"There are some good teams up there," Winterburn said. "If we have a chance to move on into playoffs, those are some teams we might face."

The Leopards momentarily held a small lead in both games of the two-game series against Hayward April 16-17, but could not hold on to either lead as the games endured, and the Leopards lost, 13-2 and 6-3.

"We were putting ourselves in a hole," Winterburn said. "We were battling uphill all week, and that put a lot of pressure on our offense."

Despite the loss, the Leopards outhit the Pioneers 11-7 in the second game of the series.

But they could not execute, as 16 ULV runners were stranded on base, while Hayward only left six.

"We just didn't come through," said senior outfielder Joe Garcia.

Senior Aaron Mendoza continued to show consistency at the plate. He batted 1.000 in the first game of the series. Mendoza also continues to lead the Leopard offense with a .395 batting average.

Mendoza is followed closely by Daniel Soriano, hitting .391 and James Ortega, hitting .365 for the season.

ULV had another tough battle against Division II opponent San Francisco April 16. The Leopards jumped on a big 6-0 lead against the Gators, but, little-by-little, watched it get taken back as they lost, 13-9.

Throughout the course of the game, the Leopards stranded 12 runners on base. This proved to be another downfall for the Leopards who could not outhit their opponent.

Against Menlo on April 15, the Leopards put their first points on the board with a two-run homerun from senior right fielder Ray Podesta, who went 1-3 in the game.

But the Oaks edged out ULV, 7-3.

"We underestimated our opponents and came out flat," Soriano said. "But there's no such thing as a complete failure; it can always serve as an example of what not to do."

With their confidence slightly broken from the trip, the Leopards will remain focused on conference.

"It affects us a little mentally," said Scott Lindeen, junior. "Hopefully it will make us all fight harder and not want to lose. We'll come out punching and beat someone else out."

Before departing, ULV swept Occidental College in a three-game series. April 11-12, the Leopards displayed their dominance as they defeated the Tigers 11-1, 8-1 and 14-4.

ULV was strong offensively and never fell behind in the series. Not only did the Leopards outscore their opponent 33-6 in three games, they also outhit them 45-20.

On defense, Lindeen pitched a scoreless seven innings in the second game, recording six strikeouts, before closers were brought in.

With three wins over both Occidental and the University of Redlands April 4-5, the Leopards brought their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record to 8-7.

The Leopards have won their last seven consecutive conference games, and have turned their record around. For the first time this season, ULV's SCIAC record is over .500.

"It feels good to crawl back in it and make a difference in conference," Winterburn said.

Overall, the Leopards stand 12-19 on the season and are tied with Redlands for fourth place in SCIAC.

This weekend ULV plays host to current conference leaders, California Lutheran University (13-2 in SCIAC), at 3 p.m., Friday at Ben Hines Field followed by a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m., Saturday in Thousand Oaks.

Regarding this weekend, Winterburn said, "We'll give them a run for their money."