The University of La Verne completed a three-game sweep over Occidental College by taking both games of a doubleheader against the Tigers by scores of 18-3 and 7-4 Saturday at Ben Hines Field.

La Verne (9-8, 7-5 SCIAC) used the longball to dispose of Occidental.  The Leopards belted four homers in the first game as 11 of the 18 runs were scored courtesy of home runs.  In the second game, the Leos scored the go-ahead runs on a 3-run blast from Victor Peinado to seize victory.

The Leopards came from behind in all three games against Oxy.  In Saturday's opener, the Tigers took a 3-0 lead only to watch the Leopards score 18 unanswered runs in the final six innings.

Mike Surina was the offensive star in the first game with a 5-5 performance at the plate including two homers in addition to scoring 5 runs and 4 RBI.  Surina hit a 3-run shot in the fifth to give La Verne a 6-3 lead.  In the seventh, he belted a 2-run homer to help propel a Leopard uprising that produced 8 runs to put the game out of reach.

Joe Buckley and Jon-Michael Hattabaugh also homered for the Leopards.  Buckley's 2-run blast tied the game in the bottom of the fourth while Hattabaugh smacked a grand slam in the seventh to put the Leopards up 14-3. Starter Tim Jolly worked 7.1 innings and struck out 6 Tigers to get the victory.

In the second game, Occidental (7-12, 4-8 SCIAC) once again grabbed a 3-0 lead by scoring three times in the top of the second inning.  The Leopards pushed across a run on an RBI single from Matt Proulx. 

The Leopards knotted the game at 3-3 in the fourth on a Proulx RBI double and a Sergio Munoz RBI single.

After Oxy reclaimed the lead with a run in the fifth, the Leopards struck back in the sixth as Peinado deposited a pitch over the leftfield wall with two men on to give La Verne a 6-4 lead they would not relinquish. 

Both Peinado (3-4) and Proulx registered 3 hits in the win.  Mark Larini pitched 4.2 innings of relief to secure the win while David Contreras pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save. 

La Verne steps out of conference next week to take part in the California Classic beginning with games on Friday against Puget Sound and Menlo.