Baseball tops Eastern Mennonite, 10-5

Baseball tops Eastern Mennonite, 10-5

LA VERNE, Calif. — Ben White cranked his first home run of the season to lead the University of La Verne baseball team to a 10-5 win over Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday afternoon at Ben Hines Field.

La Verne improves to 10-5 on the season. Eastern Mennonite falls to 9-5.

White sent one over the center field wall with two runners on to cap off a six-run fifth inning that saw the Leopards claim a 8-4 lead.

White finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Ashton Edior started the fifth inning rally with a double and Woody Reyes promptly followed up with a line drive single to center to get the Leopards within 4-3. Christopher Peres then knocked in two with a single up the middle and Jakob Thomas followed up with a walk to set the stage for White.

Michaels, Peres and Daniel McDonnell each had two hits for La Verne. Edior was 1-for-2 and scored two runs.

Eastern Mennonite staked out to an early 4-2 lead as they took advantage of shaky command of La Verne's pitching staff. The Royals scratched three infield hits off La Verne starter Anthony Braun to score two runs in the top of the first inning and after Leopards tied it at 2-2 in the top of the third, Griffin Stanley drove in two with a single to give the Royals a 4-2 lead.

La Verne's bullpen was effective in the back half of the game. The Leopards gave up one run on four hits in the final five innings and struck out four. Alexander Gorzelany (1-0) threw 1.1 scoreless innings and got two strikeouts to pick up his first collegiate win.

Nick Byrd tossed 1.2 shutout innings and Javi Iñiguez pitched one scoreless frame.

Robert Johnson (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs without getting an out in the big fifth inning.

The Leopards are back in action this weekend as they travel back to Tucson, Arizona, for spring break. La Verne will face Wesleyan (Conn.) and Macalester on Saturday.