WHITTIER, Calif. — The La Verne baseball team dropped a pair of games at Whittier on Saturday and will enter the 2017 SCIAC Postseason Tournament as the fourth seed.
La Verne finishes the regular season 15-9 in the SCIAC (21-18 overall) and will travel to top seed Cal Lutheran on Friday to open postseason play. Chapman will host Redlands in the other opening round matchup.
Game 1: Whittier 10, La Verne 9 (11 inn.)
The Leopards led for most of the game but the Poets pushed across three runs in the eighth inning to tie the game and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th for a 10-9 win.
Jakob Thomas got La Verne off to a crisp start with a two-run home run in the first inning and the Leopards scored nine runs in the first five innings to take a 9-3 lead after 4 1/2 innings.
But the Poets chipped away at the deficit, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth and adding another off a Jake Raynaud solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to bring it within 9-6.
Raynaud went yard again for two runs in the eighth and Andrew Lamar tied the game at 9-9 with an RBI single later in the inning.
La Verne had a couple of golden opportunities to score in extra innings but couldn't cash in. Dylan Lowenstein doubled to lead off the top of the 10th but was thrown out home trying to score on a Nicholas Michaels single. Jacob Benson led off the 11th with a walk but Thomas flied into a double play in the next at-bat as Benson misjudged the ball and was caught back at first.
The Poets opened the bottom of the 11th with a pair of walks and Charlie Mayfield singled home the winning run.
Game 2: Whittier 11, La Verne 3
Despite outhitting the Poets 13-11, The Leopards left 13 runners on base in a 11-3 loss in the nightcap.
Whittier got on the board first on an RBI groundout by Spencer VanDerStarren in the bottom of the second but La Verne countered in the next half inning as Justin Wright doubled, advanced to second on a single by Campbell and scored on a wild pitch.
Hank Burditt homered in the fourth inning to give Whittier a 2-1 lead and the Poets broke the game open with a 4-run fifth inning.
La Verne cut the difict to 6-2 on a fielder's choice RBI by Andrew Douglas in the six inning but the Poets scored five more runs in their final two offensive innings to seal the game.
Thomas hit his second homer of the day in the top of the ninth.
Up next
Gametime for the first round of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament will be announced on Monday.