LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 23, 2010) – Under clear skies, the Occidental College baseball team took the field for the second to last time of the spring. The outcome, however, was not what the Tigers hoped for as the University of La Verne Leopards won the battle of the cats, 4-2, in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action today on Anderson Field.
Occidental jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning as both Stephen Hilliard and Daniel Kelley collected RBI singles, sending Glenn Gray (walk) and Hilliard across the plate.
That was all the scoring the Tigers would muster in the game, although they put themselves within striking distance in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. With men at the corners, Oxy attempted a squeeze, which went awry as Brent Wunner was tagged out by ULV pitcher Matt Baudino for the first out of the fourth.
Oxy had runners picked off in both the fifth and sixth innings, at first and second, respectively and had another runner caught stealing by ULV catcher Mike Surina.
La Verne scored all four of their runs in the third inning. The Leopards batted around in the inning. With one out top of the order combined for three consecutive singles. Kevin Ibarra then drew a walked to force in a run before Victor Peinado connected for a a 2-run single to score Surina and Jon-Michael Hattabaugh. The Leos final run came when Ibarra crossed home when Joe Buckley reached on a fielder's choice.
Oxy out-hit ULV 10-9 as both Hilliard and Wunner had multi-hit games. For the Leopards Surina was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. Mark Larini and Pedino each had two hits as well. Overall, the Leopards and Tigers collected no extra-base hits.
Baudino pitched 6.2 innings for the win before set-up man Anthony Cerafice forced three groundball outs to second base in eighth while closer ULV David Contreras struck out the side in the ninth.
For the Black and Orange, Hilliard went 6.1 innings before handing the ball over to Brooks Belter who threw 2.2 scoreless innings.
Occidental falls to 13-21, 10-15 SCIAC while La Verne improves to 21-16, 15-10. The Tigers will be on the road tomorrow when they travel to Whittier College. First pitch at Palmer Field is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
Article by: Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
