Baseball wins 2 from Sagehens, drops 1 to
Panthers
Campus Times
February 28, 1997
Riding the momentum of the Caltech three game sweep, using aggressive
hitting and solid pitching, the University of La Verne baseball team took
two of three games from the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, but fell to the Chapman
Panthers, losing 16-1, Tuesday night.
ULV was behind early in the game against the Panthers. By the fourth
inning Chapman had built a 10-0 lead.
The Leopards avoided a shut-out when senior right fielder Seth Marrs
reached first on a strikeout and a wild pitch in the ninth inning. Sophomore
third baseman Eric Britton followed with a single, and freshman outfielder
Shane Black doubled in Marrs to ruin the Chapman shut-out bid.
The Leopards dropped the first game of the Pomona-Pitzer series, 15-6,
but controlled the last two games, 5-1 and 9-3, to win the three game set.
Head coach Owen Wright felt that he had a different team show up for
the Saturday doubleheader than the team that played on Friday.
When asked what the keys were to the two victories, he said "Execution
was the key. We did the little things that count: hit and run, stealing
bases, laying down bunts."
La Verne started their execution early in the first game of the Saturday
doubleheader. After ULV got the first two runners on base in the first inning,
sophomore designated hitter David Riffle laid down a bunt that was fielded
by the Pomona-Pitzer pitcher. The runner was forced out at third and the
scoring opportunity seemed to end. But with one out, Marrs walked to load
bases.
Sophomore left fielder Armando Hernandez came to the plate and lined
a single in left field to bring in a run.
One out later, junior third baseman Robert Perea walked to force across
another run to give the Leopards a quick 2-0 lead.
The La Verne lead was all senior pitcher Sean Caldwell needed to win.
Caldwell pitched 7 and 1/3 innings of the game. He struck out the side in
the first inning and set down eight Sagehens in a row from the second to
the fourth innings. Caldwell finished with eight strikeouts and gave up
only five hits in the win.
In the rubber game of the series, La Verne again controlled Pomona-Pitzer
with pitching.
Junior pitcher Maynard McClarrinon started for the Leopards. He was
consistently ahead in the count and held the Sagehens scoreless through
six innings. At one point, he retired 11 batters in a row.
"(La Verne's) pitchers out pitched our guys. They threw more strikes
and got ahead of our hitters," said former ULV player, now Pomona-Pitzer
pitching coach Sean McCorry.
While Pomona-Pitzer was struggling to get a hit, ULV was building a
big lead.
The Leopards manufactured two runs in the second with smart base running.
Marrs led off the inning with a walk. He then stole second while Hernandez
struck out for the first out. Marrs took off for third and forced the Pomona-Pitzer
catcher to throw the ball into left field. Marrs got up, looked around,
and scored easily on the error.
"When Marrs stole third, that really psyched them (Pomona-Pitzer)
out. You can whip a team mentally as well as physically," said Wright.
ULV scored three more runs before the end of the third to jump out to
a 4-0 lead.
The Leopards got the first four runners on in the fifth inning and all
of them scored.
Junior second baseman Lyle Miller singled to lead off the inning. Senior
short-stop Brock Whobrey followed with a single to left. Riffle singled
to center and brought in one run.
Marrs delivered a triple in left-center field gap to plate two runs.
The hit broke the game wide open and forced McCorry to make a pitching change.
With such a big lead, Wright went to his bench and they responded by
adding one more run in the eighth inning. Sophomore Chad Tucker provided
the spark off the bench when he singled to left. Later in the inning, freshman
catcher David LaPeer, who caught during the first game, scored on an error
to cap the win.
The game last Friday against Pomona-Pitzer looked like La Verne was
going to easily defeat the Sagehens.
The Leopards scored five runs early in the first inning but scored only
one run the rest of the way as the Sagehens scored in every inning except
the seventh to win, 15-6. Marrs provided some offense with a home run in
the fifth inning for the Leopards, but it was too late.
ULV's next game is today at 2:30p.m. at Redlands. The same two teams
compete in a doubleheader tomorrow at 11 a.m. on Ben Hines field.