The University of La Verne baseball team earned its sixth straight victory after topping the California Institute of Technology 12-2 in eight innings in SCIAC action Saturday at Arce Field in Claremont.
La Verne's offense was highlighted by Jacob Ludvik, who went 4-for-4 at the plate with a home run, two doubles, three RBI, and four runs scored.
The Leopards jumped out to an early lead scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. George Hanna started the inning with a lead off single, and then advanced to second on a pass ball. It was then that Ludvik homered over the left center wall to score two runs.
La Verne would tally two more runs in the third inning to grab a 4-0 advantage. Ludvik doubled to left center after Mason Stoltenberg reached on an error, to put runners on second and third. Back-to-back singles by Jason Moralez and Michael Stewart scored the two runs.
The Leopards padded their lead to 8-0 after scoring a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth inning. Caltech then got on the board, scoring a run at the top of the sixth when Brian Penserini singled down the left line to score Albie Lavin who had singled up the middle earlier in the inning.
A lead-off double by Ludvik would start the bottom of the sixth inning for the Leos. He reached third on a ground out by Cody Hazel and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Stewart to put La Verne up 9-1.
After Caltech added a run in the top of the eighth, La Verne would end the game in the bottom half, scoring three runs to conclude with a 10-run mercy-rule victory.
Kevin Knight earned the win for the Leos after pitching 7.0 innings and striking out four batters.
La Verne moves to 23-10 overall and 18-4 in conference placing them in first, three games ahead of Cal Lutheran in the league standings.
The squad will continue conference play tomorrow in Los Angeles as they take on the Occidental Tigers at 1:00 pm.
