WHITTIER, Calif. – The University of La Verne baseball team could not cool off red-hot Whittier bats and dropped both games of its Saturday doubleheader at the Memorial Field. La Verne lost the opener, 12-5, and fell in the nightcap, 7-4.

Game 1: Whittier 12, La Verne 5

After collecting 19 hits in Friday's win, La Verne bats put together 13 more in Game 1, but the pitching could not hold up its end of the bargain. The Poets scored at least a run in six of eight innings and finished with 15 hits.

Corey Jensen led the way for Whittier. The center fielder hit for the cycle, going 5-for-6 at the dish and providing the game-winning run in the bottom of the 4^th with a home run down the right field line. He added a triple and a double along the way, giving him a total of four RBI in the game.

The Leopards started well, taking an early lead in the 1^st when Ben White plated Nolan Henley and George Hanna with a single. Whittier answered in the bottom of the 1^st with two runs of its own, but La Verne once again took the lead in 3^rd on a Mark Jebbia RBI single.

But Jensen went yard and the Leopards were shut out in the middle innings, allowing the Poets to pull away.

La Verne tacked on two runs in the 8^th when Michael Reyes doubled in Jebbia and Reyes came around to score on an error, but it was a too little, too late. Whittier scored four in the bottom of the 8^th to seal the win.

Henley and White led the Leopards with three hits each.

Curtis Martin picked up the win for Whittier and Ben Cerami earned a two-inning save.

Game 2: Whittier 7, La Verne 4

Joe Winterburn launched a two-run bomb to tie the game at 3-3 in the 6^th and Pedro Espinoza hit a go-ahead solo homer to lead off the 7^th, but La Verne couldn't hold on as Whittier answered immediately in the bottom of the 7^th.

Jensen was a thorn in La Verne's side once again. Jensen led off the bottom of the 7^th with his second home run of the day to tie the game at 4-4. Whittier then added two more runs in the inning on RBI singles by Julian Barzilli and Cody Martinez to take a 6-4 lead.

Whittier added an insurance run in the 8^th on a Stephen Zavala RBI single.

After recording double-digit hits in its last four games, La Verne bats went silent in Game 2. Winterburn and Espinoza accounted for all four of La Verne's hits with two apiece.

The Leopards once again took a 1^st inning lead, but the Poets once again came back to tie it in the bottom of the frame. Winterburn hit a two-out double to plate George Hanna to give the Leopards a 1-0 lead. The Poets came back to load the bases and tied it at 1-1 on a fielder's choice.

Thomas Hemington got the win in relief and Cerami recorded another six-out save for Whittier.

La Verne returns to action next Friday when it travels to Los Angeles for the first game of its series against Occidental. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.