Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of La Verne scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to come from behind and beat the Whittier baseball team, 12-7, Saturday afternoon at Ben Hines Field.

With the win, the Leopards have won all four season meetings against the Poets.

Whittier (16-18) jumped on La Verne early with a three-run first inning. Andrew Vallejo led off the game with a triple and after Alex Mitchell walked and stole second, Alex Gast singled up the middle to put WC ahead, 2-0.

Dan Gleiberman kept the inning alive with a single through the right side and Austin Straus took advantage of a sacrifice bunt from Darby Weppner to plate Gast on an RBI-ground out.

The Leopards responded to the early Whittier onslaught with one run in each the first, second and third innings before the Poets scored three more in the top of the fifth.

A pair of doubles highlighted the three-run stanza as Gleiberman and Weppner both drove in runs. Gast picked up an RBI to start the surge with a single to left field.

An error aided in Whittier's seventh run and after six innings the Poets held a 7-3 advantage.

La Verne chipped at the Whittier lead with a three-run seventh. A sacrifice fly made the score 7-4 and a pair of runs made it a one-run ballgame through seven complete.

The Poets threatened in the eighth but could not score a run despite loading the bases with no outs.

Disaster struck the purple and gold in the eighth as La Verne scored six runs to turn a one-run deficit into a five-run lead. Taylor Fallon was tagged with the loss. He entered the game in the eighth and allowed four runs on four hits.

Ryan Schwenn started and went 6.0 innings. He allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits.

Vallejo finished with three hits while Gast, Gleiberman and Straus all had multiple hits.

The Poets will return to action tomorrow afternoon as it hosts Pomona-Pitzer at 1 pm.