 |  |
Baseball Salvages Final Game In Series With Sagehens
In a battle of SCIAC Champions past and present, the University of La Verne concluded the 2009 regular season with a three-game series against Pomona-Pitzer, the nation's second-ranked team in Division III.
The Sagehens would take the first two games of the series by 5-4 margins before the Leopards closed out with a 13-10 win in the finale at Ben Hines Field.
On Friday, the Sagehens erased a 4-3 deficit with a 2-run homer from Teddy Bingham to take the opener in Claremont. The loss nullified a valiant pitching effort from Jesse Sweet, who held the vaunted Hen lineup to 3 runs in 7.1 innings of work despite an injured hand.
In Saturday's first game, Pomona-Pitzer broke a 3-3 tie by plating a run in each of the eighth and ninth innings. The Hens held off a Leopard rally in the bottom of the ninth as La Verne moved to within 5-4 on a Jon-Michael Hattabaugh sac fly to score Sergio Munoz. But Pomona-Pitzer got the final out leaving the potential tying run on second base.
Hattabaugh went 2-3 with 3 RBI including a 2-run homer in the third inning to stake the Leopards to a 3-1 lead. Victor Peinado also homered with a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning. The 3 RBI for Hattabaugh give him exactly 100 for his career to rank #9 on the Leopard career charts.
La Verne avoided the sweep by plating 4 runs in each of the fifth and seventh innings to help offset an early 4-2 deficit.
The Leopards trailed 6-4 in the fifth before Donovan Petta and Mark Larini hit consecutive RBI singles to knot the game at 6-6. Larini would later steal home as part of a double steal to put the Leos up 7-6. Allen Komori would also produce an RBI single to give the Leopards an 8-6 advantage.
Pomona-Pitzer would tie the game at 8-8 before La Verne added to its total in the seventh. Three Leopards reached via hit batsmen, the third coming when Sagehen pitcher Tom Church hit Matt Ayres to bring in a run to give the Leopards a 9-8 advantage. The key hit came from Sergio Munoz who smacked a 2-run double to help propel the Leos to victory.
Sal Diaz earned the win in his final appearance at Ben Hines Field to move to 5-1 on the season while David Contreras recorded the save.
Mike Moretti went 1-4 with 3 RBI including a 2-run homer in the first inning. Pomona-Pitzer's Drew Hedman blasted his league-leading 23rd homer for the Hens in a losing effort.
Before the game, seniors Diaz, Sweet, Komori, Ayres, Moretti and Grant Wheatley were honored prior to the game in recognition of Senior Day.
