LA VERNE, CA — John Bike led the Leopards with five RBIs and the University of La Verne baseball team rolled to a pair of wins over the visiting Puget Sound Loggers Saturday afternoon.
Season Impact
The Leopards continue to look sharp on opening weekend, improving to 3-0 on the season. Puget Sound falls to 0-3.
Game One: La Verne 8, Puget Sound 4
Bike registered four of his RBIs in game one and the Leopards took advantage of Puget Sound miscues to score the game one win.
Cody Norman picked up the win, going five innings in his start with four strikeouts, one walk, and no earned runs. Devon Burhans pitched the final four innings and struck out three to pick up the save.
After falling behind in the top of the third, a pair to crucial errors by the Loggers in the fourth inning led to a five-run Leopard rally. Cameron Slessor led off the inning with a single to left and the freshman scored two batters later off back-to-back Logger miscues.
Santa Cruz stepped up next with an RBI infield single followed by a Bike sacrifice fly. RBIs by Chase Siffert and Aaron Fong capped off the inning to give the Leopards the 5-2 lead.
Bike added the highlight of the game in the seventh when he hit a bases-loaded double down the right-field line to extend La Verne 's lead to 8-2.
The Loggers added a pair of runs in the eighth but would get no closer.
Game Two: La Verne 12, Puget Sound 1 (8 innings)
Tanner Siffert finished 4-5 with two RBI and the Leopards exploded for nine runs in the final two innings to score the run-rule win in game two.
Sean Holt stuck out five and gave up no earned runs in his start to earn the win. Travis Moffaft stuck out three and Eric Munsey stuck out one.
Leading 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Bike and Christian Killian hit back-to-back RBI singles to get the Leopards rolling. Matthew Dodd stepped in to pinch hit next and came up clutch, singling through the right side to bring in Bike.
Slessor and Patrick Keller added the final two RBI of the inning to give their squad the 8-1 advantage.
Tanner Siffert kept the momentum going in the next inning with a leadoff triple. Shiota stepped up next and capitalized with an RBI single up the middle. An RBI double by Chase Siffert and a pair of runs scored off errors ended the game.
Next Game
The Leopards continue their stretch of games against Northwest Conference opponents tomorrow at 11 a.m. when they host Pacific (Ore.) at 11 a.m.
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