LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne baseball team took the lead in the sixth, rallied in the seventh, and scored a huge 9-5 win over the defending NCAA Champions and current No. 1 Chapman Panthers.

Season Impact

The Leopards improve to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in SCIAC action. The Leopards pick up their second win against a ranked opponent this season after defeating No. 23 Condorcia (Tex.) last weekend. Chapman suffers its first loss of the season and drops to 8-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

How It Happened

Anthony Salcedo led the Leopards with three RBIs. The freshman put the Leopards up 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second and capped off a big seventh inning when he singled in a pair of insurance runs to put the score at 9-5.

Patrick Keller was a menace on the base path and was perfect at the plate. The junior transfer out of Chaffey College, who entered the weekend tied for first in the nation with eight steals, swiped an incredible five bags on Saturday including two in the series finale. He hit a perfect 5-5 with a triple and scored two runs in the win.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the sixth, Chapman's Henry Zeisler evened the game with a three-run shot clear over the right field fence. But La Verne quickly jumped back on top with Aaron Fong singling in Brandon Shiota to put La Verne up for good.

Shiota had an outstanding game at the, finishing 3-4 with a double and two runs. He added an RBI in the seventh when he drove in John Bike to extend the Leopards' lead to 7-5.

Travis Moffatt pitched one and one-third innings to pick up the win. Sean Holt struck out five in his start and Tyler Lawson closed out the final two innings with two strikeouts.

POSTGAME: Anthony Salcedo led the Leopards with 3 RBIs in a 9-4 win over No. 1 Chapman #d3baseball #GoLeos pic.twitter.com/Exri4QxHXe

— La Verne Leopards (@ULVAthletics) February 23, 2020

Game One: Chapman 8, La Verne 6 (10 Innings)

The Leopards rallied and scored three runs in the seventh inning to tie Chapman and force extra innings but the Panthers sent two runners across the plate in the 10th to take the win.

Neither team had an issue making contact in Saturday's opener as the squads combined for 25 hits in the game.

La Verne finished with four extra-base hits including a triple by Bike and doubles from Adam Santa Cruz, Keller, and Shiota. Bike and Shiota each hit in a pair of runs.

Salcedo led the Leopards with three hits and Keller drew a pair of walks.

Down 6-3 with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Keller got into scoring position with a double and then moved 90 feet from the plate when he stole third. Keller swiped an incredible three bags in Saturday's opener.

Bike came through and brought in Keller with a sacrifice fly to right field. Shiota tied the game with two outs in the inning with a double to right center that scored Cameron Slessor and Tanner Siffert.

In the tenth, Joe Jimenez hit a leadoff double for the Panthers to get into scoring position. Later in the inning, the Leopards intentionally walked Cooper Foard and then Aarong Wong came through with a double that scored the pair of runners.

Santa Cruz managed a double in the bottom half of the inning but the Leopards couldn't get any runs on the board.

Next Game

The Leopards return to action on Friday, February 28 when they host Pomona-Pitzer at 2:30 p.m.