The University of La Verne baseball team suffered its first shutout loss of the season as Whittier's Ryan Schwenn held the Leopards hitless en route to a 4-0 Poet victory in SCIAC action Friday night at Mazmanian Field on the Mt. SAC campus.
Schwenn yielded just one walk in facing the minimum 27 batters on the night, retiring the first seven batters he faced before Leopards first baseman Michael Stewart drew a walk in the third inning. Stewart was erased on the next play after Ross Hebert grounded out into a double play to end the inning. Stewart was the only Leopard to reach base as Schwenn would go on to retire the final 19 batters.
Schwenn's effort overshadowed a strong performance from Leopard starter Phil Schick who allowed just two earned runs off six hits while striking out five batters in eight innings of work.
"You have to give credit to Schwenn for an very well-pitched game," said Leopard head coach Scott Winterburn. "He worked effectively the entire night and his control was outstanding. We did have some good at-bats but in the end he made the pitches and had good defensive support."
Whittier struck early, scoring a run in the first inning. Andrew Vallejo led off with a triple and then scored on an RBI ground out by Corey Jensen for a 1-0 lead.
Two unearned runs were scored by Whittier in the fifth inning when Austin Straus walked and Tyler Bogart reached on a Leopard fielding error to put runners on first and second. Vallejo's double to right center plated Straus and Bogart for a 3-0 lead.
Whittier's final run came at the top of the eighth off an RBI double to left center by Cory Goodchild.
Friday's outcome concluded a day in which each of the four conference games ended in shutouts.
La Verne fell into a tie with Cal Lutheran for first place in SCIAC with a league mark of 12-4 and an overall record of 17-10.
The Leopards finish the three-game series Saturday with a doubleheader against the Poets. The first game will start at 11:00 am in Whittier.
