WHITTIER – The University of La Verne baseball team hosted Redlands for its official home opener and came away with a pair of wins to take the first SCIAC series on Saturday at Rio Hondo Community College.
Game 1: La Verne 18, Redlands 7 (7 innings)
La Verne jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back as it routed the Bulldogs 18-7 in Game 1 in seven innings.
The Leopards chased Redlands starter Michael Collins after just two thirds of an inning as they scored six 1st inning runs. La Verne loaded the bases to lead off the game and the four following batters all drove in runs.
It was the same story for La Verne's nine-run 3rd inning. Jared Hovsepian walked, Nolan Henley singled and Michael Reyes also drew a walk to pack the bases with no outs. The Leopards stayed patient as they worked three more bases on balls in the inning to push across three and Joe Winterburn, Josh Surdo and Hovsepian all came through with RBI base hits to extend La Verne's lead to a comfortable 15-4.
The closest Redlands got was when they scratched together four hits and took advantage of a walk and hit batter to plate four runs in the 3rd inning. Kyle Wallau's fielder's choice RBI got the Bulldogs within 6-4, but that was as close as they would get.
Other than the bump he hit in the third inning, starter Kevin Knight was solid. The senior tossed five innings and outside of the 3rd, he gave up only four hits.
Every starter recorded at least a hit for the Leopards. Reyes, Winterburn and Hovsepian led the way with three hits apiece.
Hovsepian also had three RBIs. Tyler Watkins and Mark Jebbia each drove in three as well.
Game 2: La Verne 3, Redlands 2
Game 2 was a far cry from an offensive explosion but La Verne used Mark Jebbia's eight strong innings to hold on for a 3-2 win.
The versatile junior retired 10 Bulldogs in a row at one point and gave up just two runs on seven hits to notch his first win of the season.
The Leopards got all the runs they needed in the 1st inning. Redlands got two quick outs, but an error by shortstop Jordan Dresner extended the inning and the Leopards pounced.
After Joe Winterburn reached on the error, Jebbia singled up the middle and Ben White doubled to deep left center well out of the reach of diving Alex Scheiwe to drive in two. Espinosa promptly followed with a line drive single to center to add what turned out to be the game-winning run.
Redlands immediately got one back in the top of the 2nd on a bases-loaded walk, but Jebbia got out of the inning without further damage.
Brett Early came on in the 9th and after allowing a leadoff single, set down the next three hitter in a row to earn the save for the Leopards.
In addition to his effort on the mound, Jebbia went 2-for-4 in the batter's box.
Pedro Espinoza had a game-high three hits. Reyes and White each had one.
La Verne returns to action next Friday at 2:30 p.m. when it hosts Chapman at the Rio Hondo Community College.
