The University of La Verne baseball team opened SCIAC play with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory against the University of Redlands Bulldogs Friday afternoon at Rio Hondo College.

The Leopards would weather a shaky first inning in which Redlands put together timely hits including consecutive RBI singles capitalizing on early La Verne errors to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

The Bulldog lead was short-lived as La Verne brought three across the plate in the bottom of the second inning to draw even.  Josh Surdo would reach base on a fielder's choice and advance on a Mason Stoltenberg single.  A sacrifice fly by freshman Nolan Henley would score Surdo and lessen the Redlands' lead to 3-1.  A line-drive double to the right-center gap by senior Dylan Leong would score Stoltenberg bringing the Leopards within a run.  Leong would score on Michael Stewart's RBI single tying the game at 3-3.

Both offenses would cool until the fifth inning when Redlands would once again take the lead 4-3.  La Verne's Alec Garcia would come in and relieve for La Verne starter Christian Grossi holding the Bulldogs to one in the fifth.  However, La Verne would answer back in the bottom half of the inning on a Stoltenberg sacrifice fly to right field to score Michael Reyes.

Kevin Knight would enter in relief in the top half of the sixth inning and would hold Redlands scoreless on three hits in his 3.1 innings pitched.  La Verne would turn the tables in the bottom of the seventh and capitalize on a Bulldog passed ball as Moralez scored from third to provide the go-ahead run and a 5-4 lead which would hold up for the win.

Leong went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.  Stewart was 2 for 5 with an RBI.  Henley and Stoltenberg both had RBI's for the Leopards.

Knight earned the win in relief while Redlands starter Eliot Smith took the loss despite six strong innings.

With the win La Verne improves to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in SCIAC play.  The Leopards travel to Redlands to continue the series with a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 am.