WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College baseball team committed seven errors and gave up 10 unearned runs as Occidental College started the three-game, weekend, series with a 14-7 win at Memorial Field on a sunny Friday afternoon.

The Poets (7-24, 4-15 SCIAC) were doomed by a Tiger seven-run third inning that all started with a two-out error. Starting pitcher Ryan Schwenn retired the first two batters in order but two errors, six hits and one pitching change later Occidental held a 10-2 lead.

Schwenn was tagged for 10 runs but only allowed three earned; all of which came in the first. He struck out three batters and issued one walk in the loss.

Whittier battled back with a run in the fourth inning on an RBI double from Pete Mitchell and was able to cut the deficit to 10-4 with a run in the fifth. After stealing second base, Jacob Storrer picked up his second stolen base in as many tries and scored as an errant throw by the catcher went down the left field line.

One run in the top of the seventh by Occidental was followed by a three-run effort in the home half of the inning. Alex Mitchell led off with a double and scored one batter later as Darby Weppner drove a triple down the right field line. The three-bagger by Weppner was his fourth hit of the afternoon and resulted in the second cycle of the season for the Poets.

Weppner hit a two-run homerun in the first inning, doubled in the third inning and singled in the fifth.

The seventh inning continued with an RBI single from Storrer in the ensuing at bat. Andrew Vallejo put runners on the corners with a base hit through the right side and Pete Mitchell pushed Vallejo to second with a sacrifice bunt. David Tucci grounded out to shortstop but brought in Storrer to make the score 11-7.

Whittier left one runner on base in the seventh.

The eighth inning saw the Poets have their fielding miscues again, as the Tigers added two runs accompanied by two WC errors. Occidental was able to tack on its 14th run in the ninth behind another pair of Whittier errors.

The purple and gold went down in order in the eighth and had two runners on when the game ended in the ninth.

Storrer, Vallejo and Pete Mitchell all had two-hit games for the Poets.

Kevin Pigott pitched well in relief. He went 4.1 innings, allowed just one run on five hits and struck out two batters.

The Poets continue their set with the Tigers tomorrow afternoon with a twin bill in Los Angeles at 11 and 2:30.