PASADENA, Calif. — It took all 28 conference games, but the Leopards are in.

In the final contest of the regular season on Tuesday, the University of La Verne beat Caltech, 21-2, and with Occidental's loss the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the same day, clinched the No. 4 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

La Verne finished the regular season at 15-13 in SCIAC and 19-20 overall.

The Leopards will face top-seeded national No. 7/14 Cal Lutheran to open the double elimination tournament in Thousand Oaks on Friday.

The Leopards started the game in a grand fashion. After three hitters in front of him all reached to start the game, Joe Winterburn smashed one over the fence for a grand slam homerun to give La Verne a 4-0 lead before an out was even recorded. It was his third homer in his last two games.

La Verne did not let up. The Leopards scored three more in the first inning after the grand slam and recorded at least three runs in five innings to end the game in seven innings.

It felt like very Leopard was hitting or was getting on base. Winterburn finished 4-for-5 with seven RBI and three runs scored. Ben White was also 4-for-5 while collecting three RBI and scoring three runs. Pedro Espinoza had three hits. Nolan Henley, George Hanna and Jared Hovsepian each contributed two. George Holland, who didn't record a hit, somehow still managed to score three runs.

Even Phil Schick, who hasn't recorded a plate appearance in his four years at La Verne, subbed in at right field, drew a walk, and scored a run.

As a team, La Verne was 20-for-41 at the plate.

Starter Kevin Knight gave up two runs on five hits in three innings of work, but the bullpen was perfect. Zachary Quinones, Diego Cortes and Brett Early combined to throw four perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Friday's game at Cal Lutheran starts at 3 p.m. For La Verne, cooling the Kingsmen bat will be the key in the all-important Game 1 of a double elimination tournament. Cal Lutheran has scored a total of 38 runs in four games against La Verne in the regular season.