The University of La Verne baseball team notched a pair of victories in the Leopards' opening of SCIAC Pool Play Saturday at Rio Hondo College. 

A timely offensive performance propelled La Verne past Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6-3 while Leopard starting pitcher Kevin Knight recorded a complete-game performance against top-seeded and No. 6 Cal Lutheran by a 5-2 margin.

As a result, the Leopards move into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with two games remaining in SCIAC Pool Play.

Against CMS, La Verne immediately jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Nick Bergara singled to center field and then came around to score on a Tim Ralston double to right field.  The bulk of the Leopards' run production would come in the bottom of the third, an inning highlighted by a three run home run over the left-field wall from Michael "Woody" Reyes.  The three-run blast was the freshman Reyes' first homer of the year.  Jason Moralez and Mason Stoltenberg crossed the plate on the Reyes homer after they both singled earlier in the inning.

The Leopards would keep their bats rolling when Bergara and George Hanna singled to lead off the inning.  Michael Stewart would then be hit by the pitch to load the bases, bringing in La Verne designated-hitter Ralston.  Ralston would make hard contact, grounding into the double play but not before Bergara crossed the plate to give La Verne a 6-0 advantage. 

Leopard starter Phil Schick would cruise until running into trouble in the top of the eighth.  The Stags would finally get on the board with three runs in the frame but Leopard reliever Brett Early would hold CMS at bay.  Brandon Montalvo would enter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to earn his first save of the year.

Jared Hovsepian, Bergara, Moralez, and Stoltenberg paced the Leopards with two hits apiece.  Schick improved to 5-5 on the year, striking out four and allowing just six hits.

La Verne faced off against SCIAC foe Cal Lutheran in their second game of the day.  The Kingsmen, ranked No.6 in the ABCA Division III Poll, capitalized on an early La Verne error to take a quick 1-0 lead but Knight would recover and hold the Cal Lutheran offense at bay for the remainder of the contest. 

The La Verne bats gave Knight support with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Hovsepian, Hanna, and Bergara would fire off consecutive singles to immediately load the bases.  Ralston would then fly out to center forcing a throwing error by the first baseman and allowing Hovsepian to cross the plate.  Stewart would then execute with a ground ball to the right side scoring Bergara and putting La Verne up 2-1. 

In the bottom of the second, the Leopards would pick up where they left off in the previous inning, putting two runners in scoring position immediately.  Hovsepian would provide a sacrifice bunt that advanced Moralez to third, allowing him to score on Bergara's ball to the third baseman.  Hanna would then smash a double to left-center scoring Reyes, giving La Verne a 4-1 lead.

La Verne continued to capitalize on the Cal Lutheran mistakes, tacking on another run in the fourth on a botched throw by the third baseman that would score Hovsepian and provide a four-run cushion for Knight. 

Knight who improved to 6-3 on the year with his complete game performance allowed just five hits and two runs , one earned, while striking out five.  The only hiccup came in the sixth when the Kingsmen put a run on the board with station-to-station play.  Knight quickly recovered and continued to keep the Cal Lutheran offense which ranks second in the nation in batting average (.367) fooled.

With the pair of victories, La Verne improves to 21-15 on the year and goes on the road to take on Pomona-Pitzer in its third contest of SCIAC pool play.  Game time is set for 11:00 am.