Under cold, wet, and blustery conditions La Verne baseball prevailed over the visiting Kean Cougars 2-1 in the opener of a two-game series between the squads Friday in Whittier.  

Kevin Knight went the distance to capture his fourth victory of the year.  Knight would quickly recover from a one run second inning to put the Kean offense on ice.  For the next eight innings Knight was once again impressive, striking out nine and giving up just five hits.  With the victory, the junior right-hander improves to 4-1 on the year and boasts a 0.88 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched.

The Leopard bats would turn up the heat in the bottom of the 8th as Cody Hazel would double to right field putting the go ahead run on second base.  George Holland would then belt an RBI double to left-center bringing in pinch runner David Finneran.  Knight would remain strong and strike out the side in the ninth to cap the 2-1 victory.

Jared Hovsepian and Jason Moralez were both 2 for 4 at the plate.  Holland was 2 for 3 with the game-winning RBI.

Kean starting pitcher Charles Thielmann also went the distance, striking out six in eight innings in the tough-luck loss.

The Leopards improve to 10-4 on the year and face off against the Cougars, ranked ninth in the D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll, on Saturday at 1:00 pm at Arce Field in Claremont.