Nate Rodriguez, Sports Information Intern
La Verne, CA – Ten singles, eight doubles, two triples, and a home run off the top of the left field foul pole; the Leopards drilled 21 hits behind Jaylon Fong's best collegiate outing in a 19-2 midweek win over the Carleton University Knights.
The sophomore southpaw came off a solid three-inning start against nationally ranked California Lutheran last week, and followed up that performance by blanking the Knights through six innings. Fong struck out five batters allowing just four hits. After the Leopards failed to push a runner across from scoring position in the first inning, the bats exploded in the second for nine runs; a Carleton error piled atop of eight La Verne hits blew the game open. They scored two more apiece in the next two innings to extend the lead to 13-0; then six more by the game's end with multiple players contributing off the bench. La Verne called upon Ryan McLernon, Jacob Barriga, and Alfredo Frey out of the bullpen for one inning each to close out the ballgame. Barriga made his season's first appearance on the mound, striking out one Knight swinging to end the eighth. Frey slammed the door with two more strikeouts in the ninth. Anthony Salcedo, Matt Diaz, and Malachi Francois all collected three hits. Salcedo pushed his season average back up to .296, scoring twice and driving home a run on both a single and a triple. Diaz plugged into left field off the bench and had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-3 with a run and an RBI. Francois tattooed his second home run of the season off the top of the left-field foul pole in the bottom of the second that capped off the inning. Cam Slessor and Christian Killian both had multi-hit, multi-RBI performances before exiting early. Slessor drove the catcher home twice on singles, while the Leopards' backstop went 2-3 with a sacrifice fly and three RBIs. Benny Vogel entered center field off the bench and laced an opposite field double for his first 2022 hit.
La Verne hits the road on Friday to resume conference play against the Occidental Tigers, who sport a 3-3 SCIAC record so far. The Leopards pick up their season's 14th win and head into the weekend aiming to maintain their perfect record in conference play.
