The University of La Verne baseball team continues to battle for first place as they topped Whittier 12-7 in a comeback victory Saturday afternoon at Ben Hines Field.

The Leopards trailed the Poets 7-3 in the seventh before reeling off 9 unanswered runs to notch the victory.

Jason Moralez and Zach Canfield started off the seventh inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. Jacob Ludvik then walked to load the bases. La Verne was able to score three runs off a sacrifice fly by Jason Munoz and a throwing error by the Poets to cut the deficit down to one at 7-6.

After holding Whittier scoreless in the top of the eighth inning, the Leopards were able to score six runs on six hits to take the lead. Sergio Munoz led off with a base hit up the middle, and then went on to steal second.

After Cody Hazel was hit by a pitch, Ross Hebert singled to load the bases with no outs on the board. Moralez singled scoring two runs. Ludvik and J. Munoz both hit RBI singles, and Joe Buckley hit a base hit to right field to score the final two runs of the game.

Phil Schick earned his second win of the year after working a scoreless eighth inning. Brian Tuttle pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two batters to help preserve the win.

Buckley went 2-4 at the plate with 3 RBIs. Ludvik went 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 1 RBI, while Moralez was 2-3 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored.

La Verne improves to 22-12 on the year and 17-6 in the SCIAC, holding on to second place behind Redlands.  

The Leopards will play host to the Bulldogs on Sunday in a 1:00 pm start.