Baseball gets off to rocky start, 0-5
Campus Times
February 14, 1997
Junior second baseman Lyle Miller, makes the play at first base last
Saturday at Southern California College. Miller finished the game with 11
putouts. La Verne lost 5-2, 8-0, and is scheduled to play Caltech in its
first SCIAC game today at 2:30 and in a doubleheader tomorrow.
After losing seven of its starters, the baseball team has a harvest
of young, inexperienced players rebuilding a team that wants to be in the
hunt for the Southern California Inter-Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)
championship.
That may be tough considering the Leopards lost most of their offensive
power this year. The team's leading hitters, David Madrid and Pat Murray
graduated last spring. Madrid hit .360 with three home runs and a team leading
37 RBIs. Murray hit .371 with seven home runs and 33 RBIs.
"We're trying to establish our own identity from past teams,"
said freshman outfielder Andrew Woolsey.
The only two seniors that have played all four years at La Verne, team
captains Seth Marrs and Brock Whobrey, have the potential to be power hitters.
Whobrey hit .380 last year with 29 RBIs and Marrs hit .282 with 22 RBIs.
"Our lack of power and lack of offensive punch are our weaknesses,"
said head coach Owen Wright.
The defense looks strong but with the exception of pitchers, Whobrey
and Marrs are the only returning starters on the field.
"We've started seven people who have never played here before,"
said Wright. "We have a great infield and a lot of speed in the outfield."
Most of the returning team members did not get much playing time last
year. Sophomore Ernie Magaña and senior Andy Loya are back on the
mound. Junior Robert Perea is at third base and senior Sean Caldwell is
on the mound and behind the plate.
New to the team are freshmen Woolsey and Tim Vondran in the outfield,
junior Lyle Miller at second base and sophomore Armando Hernandez is a utility
player, who pitches, plays first base and outfield.
Miller, a transfer from Citrus College has shined thus far at second
base and the combination of Whobrey at shortstop and Miller at second could
prove lethal to anyone hitting into a double play.
"He (Miller) is easy to get along with so it has been easy to work
together on the field," said Whobrey. "With Mike (Smith), I knew
what he was going to do before he did it, but Lyle and I are working on
it."
On Wednesday, the team traveled to La Jolla to play the UC San Diego
Tritons. The Leopards took the lead in the first inning when sophomore David
Riffle doubled to bring in Perea and Whobrey after Perea doubled and Whobrey
was hit by a pitch to get on base.
The lead increased in the third when Whobrey doubled in Miller who was
on base by an error by Triton Mark Mason. A single by Riffle brought in
Whobrey and the score was 4-0.
UCSD tied the game in the sixth and took the lead in the seventh when
they scored four runs. Two of those runs were scored on two errors by La
Verne.
The Leopards tried to come back in the eighth after Hernandez hit a
solo homerun to make it 8-5 but the Tritons had three quick outs to end
the first half of the inning.
La Verne scored again after Marrs singled and Riffle hit another double
to bring him in. It was the last run for the Leopards and the final score
was 8-6. They are now 0-5 overall.
Last weekend the Leopards took on the Vanguards of Southern California
College (SCC) in Costa Mesa and lost both games of the doubleheader, 5-2
and 8-0.
It was a close first game with La Verne scoring first on a two out,
solo home run by sophomore Gary Griffith in the second inning. SCC quickly
tied it in the second when Terrik Clark hit a line drive to left to bring
in Bryan Davis.
SCC took the lead in the third making it 2-1. It was a quick two innings
with Loya pitching to keep SCC from scoring. The Leopards tied the game
in the fifth when sophomore Shane Black scored on a sacrifice by Miller.
It was in the sixth that the Vanguards scored again. La Verne had two
outs and Loya allowed three runs to score before a fly out to center field
ended the inning.
The final innings proved fruitless for La Verne as the game ended and
the final score was 5-2.
"There's a lot of guys on the team who don't know what it takes
to compete, but as soon as we start swinging more, we should be all right,"
said Whobrey.
In the second game, the Leopards got off to a rocky start with freshman
David Palacios pitching for La Verne. After getting two quick outs, they
allowed four runs and an error by Caldwell allowed the fifth run to get
on base. A single by SCC's Ryan Dambach brought him in to make the score
5-0 in the first inning.
The Leopards consistently got on base but they struggled to score. SCC
scored three more runs and the final was 8-0.
On Feb. 3, La Verne lost to Biola, 8-1, and on Jan. 27 the Leopards
lost to Azusa Pacific, 12-1.
"It (losing) woke us up in a sense that we realized that we have
to improve our weaknesses if we want to have a successful season,"
said Woolsey. "We see that we can play but we need to put it together."
Putting these losses behind it, the team is looking forward to starting
SCIAC play today against Caltech at 2:30 p.m. on Ben Hines Field and tomorrow
at 11 a.m. in Pasadena. The Leopards toughest opponents in SCIAC will be
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, April 11-12, and Cal Lutheran, April 25-26.