Whittier College baseball resumed play in the Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a three-game
series against the University of La Verne on March 28 and 29.
The Poets took game one at home with an exciting come-from-behind
7-6 victory. The teams traveled to La Verne for games two and
three, and the Leopards won both legs of the doubleheader, 3-2 and
14-11.
In game one at Memorial Field, La Verne jumped out to an early lead
with a run in each of the first three innings. The Poets
scored once in the bottom of the second on an RBI-single from Ryan
Crawford '11. The visitors tacked on two more in the top half
of the fifth to extend their lead to 5-1.
The Poets were down, but not out. With one out in the bottom
of the sixth, Chuck Acker '08 and Anthony Cappelletti '09 reached
with back-to-back singles, igniting a Poet rally. Ryan Martin
'08 doubled to bring both runners in to score. 5-3
Leopards. Two batters later, Brian Carmona '10, who has been
red-hot as of late, hit a two-run blast to tie the game.
La Verne regained the lead just one inning later, as a double and
single brought the go-ahead run across the plate. The score
remained 6-5 as the Poets came to bat in the bottom of the
ninth. Carmona got things started with a one-out single
followed by a Crawford triple that brought pinch-runner, Jay
Armenta '11, around to score. Three batters later, with two
outs, Mike "Showtime" Benavente '08 hit a walk-off single to end
the game and give the Poets the 7-6 win.
On the mound, Thomas Phelps '09 got the start and struck out six
batters in seven innings, but didn't figure in the decision.
Blake Luitwieler '08 pitched two innings of no-hit ball to earn his
fourth win of the year.
Game two also came down to the final at-bat, this time more a more
favorable outcome for La Verne. It was a pitcher's duel
for the first five innings, as the teams combined for no runs and
just three hits. Justin Armijo '09 allowed just one hit
through the first five, but got into trouble in the sixth. La
Verne broke through with a single and a two-run homer to take the
2-0 lead.
The Poets came back to tie the score in the top of the ninth, when
Ryan Martin doubled and scored and Luke Moedritzer '09 hit a
sacrifice fly to bring in Armenta, who pinch ran for Carmona after
he was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. Kevin Pigott '09
came into the game to pitch the ninth for the Poets. He
retired the first batter he faced, but gave up the game-winning
home run in the next at-bat and got the loss.
Game three was a high-scoring affair from the get-go. The
Poets got on the board in the top of the first with a two-run shot
by Cappelletti that also scored Acker. La Verne would not be
outdone, scoring two of their own in the bottom half of the inning
with two singles and a double. They would take the lead in
the third with three more runs.
The Poets exploded for seven runs in the top of the fourth.
The Poets batted around in the inning, using two doubles, four
singles, a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a pair of La Verne errors to
take a 9-5 lead. The increased their lead to five runs the
following inning with a Carmona RBI-double. He extended his
hit streak to nine games with a 3-for-5 day at the plate.
The Leopards came roaring back, however, with three runs apiece in
the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The Poets scored just
once more, in the top of the seventh, when Carmona doubled and then
scored on a RBI-single by Moedritzer. Anthony Tsui '11 was
credited with the loss after allowing one run on two hits in one
inning of work.
The Poets are now 12-14-1 overall and 5-4 in SCIAC play. La
Verne improves to 14-10, 5-3. Whittier is in action again
after Spring Break, when they take on Biola University in
non-conference action on April 8. First pitch from La Mirada,
Calif., is scheduled for 3:00pm.
