LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne baseball team took the second game of its four-game series against Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday, but lost the final two games to settle for a 1-3 finish on the weekend.
La Verne falls to 15-10 overall while Pacific improves to 9-15.
Game 2: La Verne 6, Pacific 4
Mark Jebbia dominated on the mound, Jakob Thomas launched a two-run homer and the Leopards beat the Boxers, 6-4, in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Jebbia (2-2) did not allow an earned run and gave up just two hits in six commanding innings to pick up his second win of the season. He also struck out six and didn't walk a batter.
Jebbia did commit a throwing error after a miscommunication in the first inning which led to a run, but locked down the rest of the way received a plenty of support from the offense.
Thomas started things off for the Leopards with his home run in the second inning and La Verne tacked on a run in each of the next three innings to grab a 5-1 lead. Nolan Henley had an RBI single in the third, Aaron Orona drove one in in the fourth and Ben White had a two-out single to plate Nick Byrd in the fifth.
White brought home another run in the seventh with a single but the Boxers got to La Verne's bullpen rallied for three runs in the eighth. Ben Duerr got on after getting hit by a pitch and scored on Nathan Suyematsu's single later in the inning. Walker Olis then was hit by a pitch and both he and Suyematsu came home on a failed pickoff to get within two runs.
Diego Cortes then came on to put out the fire, getting all three outs in the eighth inning, and Alex Bernstein earned the save in the ninth.
White finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Orona was also 3-for-4 and Nick Michaels had two hits.
Game 3: Pacific 10, La Verne 7
The teams traded runs through the first six innings but it was the Boxers who had the last laugh as they pushed across three runs in the eight to break a 7-7 tie.
White blasted a three-run moonshot to left center to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth.
Donnie Bradley got hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth for Pacific and was promptly moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt. Then Olis, J.T. Francies and Josh Keithly followed with consecutive hits give the Boxers a three-run lead.
Cody Ahlgrimm pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to finish the game off for Pacific and picked up the first win of his career.
Bernstein (2-2) was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs in three innings.
The Boxers struck first again with a sacrifice fly in the first inning but La Verne came back to take a 2-1 lead on a double by Jebbi that scored Thomas and Henley.
Pacific answered immediately in the next half-inning using a pair of triples to score four runs.
The Leopards rallied for two more in the fifth on hits by Zach Quinones and Orona but Pacific responded again with a two-run single by Olis in the top of the sixth.
White and Jebbia each went 2-for-5 and combined for five RBI and two runs.
Olis was 2-for-4 with a game-high four RBI.
Game 4: Pacific 11, La Verne 6
It was the Leopards that got on the board first this time as Ben White brought in two runs in the first inning after an extended battle with the pitcher.
But Pacific got into an offensive rhythm in the fourth as an RBI groundout scored Keithly and Keithly came back to single in Bradley in the fifth. The Boxers then exploded for nine runs in the next three innings to seal an 11-6 win in the season finale.
La Verne briefly took a lead after scoring three runs on a two-out rally in the sixth. Caselli on a throwing error by the shortstop, Woody Reyes drew a walk and Tyler Watkins loaded the bases with a perfectly laid bunt down the third base line. Orona then came through with a single up the middle to plate Caselli and Reyes.
Pacific then tabbed Dylan Miller to take the mound and Miller promptly threw a wild pitch to put Watkins and Orona in scoring position. Miller then intentionally walked White and allowed the third run of the inning on another wild pitch, but struck out Thomas to escape the jam.
Miller picked up the win after the offense backed him up with three runs in the top of the seventh.
Playing their fourth game in three days, it was a staff day for the Leopards as they used seven pitchers.
Up next
La Verne returns to SCIAC action next Friday when it travels to Occidental. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
Athletics Communication intern Arianna Martinez contributed to this story.