LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After a pair of pitching duels in the first two games of a three-game Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against the University of La Verne, the Occidental College baseball team locked up a 7-5 victory on Anderson Field in the weekend finale.

In a quick game one, which lasted just an hour and 40 minutes, Occidental starting pitcher Cory Popham sat the first two men of the game down on strikes, swinging and looking, respectively as he nearly tossed a complete game with eight strike outs in 8.2 innings. Popham cruised through the first three innings, but the Leopards caught up in the fourth.

ULV sent eight men to the plate, scoring a pair on a sacrifice fly and an RBI single. Sergio Munoz doubled to left and came around to score as Cody Hazel lifted a sac fly to center. With two men down and the bases loaded Leopards' catcher Jason Moralez plated Munoz with an infield hit.

Popham faced one batter more than the minimum, over the next three frames.

Occidental cut their deficit in half in the seventh as Logan Allen stroked a double down the left field line on the first pitch he saw. He moved over to third on a wild pitch and after a fly ball out, the Leopards exchanged starting pitcher Matt Baudino (6.1 innings, seven strike outs) who allowed just two hits for winning pitcher, Anthony Cerafice, who worked the final 2.2 innings, striking out a pair and not allowing an Oxy hit.

The Leos aggressively tried to add a run to their tally in the eighth, but a bang-bang 7-5-2 play from left fielder Chris Caldwell to Riley Smith to Dale Garrett, who applied the tag, blocking the plate, served as the second out of the inning. Popham then forced a ground ball that hit second baseman Van Fudge in the chest before he recovered for the final out of the inning.

In the top of the ninth with two outs designated hitter Joe Buckley hit a laser at the right field fence and a diving Stephen Hilliard made an extraordinary effort at the fence, nearly making the catch before falling to the ground, but Buckley would wind up on third with an RBI triple, adding an insurance run to the Leos' total. Mitch Margolis came in to record the final out of the game as a diving Smith layed out to snag a line drive for the final out of the inning.

Game two was a different story on both sides of the diamond as the teams combined for 12 runs on 20 hits and seven errors as nine different pitchers took the ball.

The Leopards again got off to a quick start with the Leopards' leadoff man Jacob Ludvik doubling to left and scoring on a S. Munoz single. Hazel followed suit with an RBI single of his own, plating S. Munoz.

Oxy answered in the bottom of the first with a run when Allen crossed the plate on a fielding error by ULV to cut the Leos' lead in half.

For the second consecutive inning, ULV led off with a double, by Dylan Leong, who moved to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch to extend the ULV lead to 3-1.

Once again the Black and Orange responded as John Ugai singled and stole second. He moved up to third as Garrett flew out to right. After Jacob Lee was hit by a pitch, ULV pulled their starter Nathan Rollon (1.1 innings, three hits, three strike outs), handing the ball to Phil Schick. Lee promptly stole second and when the ball sailed into center field, Ugai came in to score the second Oxy run of game two.

Things remained exciting in the third as Lee, the sophomore left fielder, fired a one hop laser to the plate where Garrett again awaited and applied a tag for the second out of the frame at the dish. Lee played a solid defensive game, snagging a line drive for the final out of inning third and repeating the feat in the fourth as the ball sailed away from him.

As the fourth inning began, Alec Strain (three runs, six hits, two strike outs) handed the ball to Matt Malott who went the next 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits for his first collegiate victory. The inning ended when Garrett caught Brian Tuttle trying steal second. Fudge made the tag at the bag.

Oxy sent 10 men to the plate and strung together four hits in the fifth, adding four runs to the board, taking their first lead of the series. Smith led off with a double down the line and Allen singled to put runners at the corners. Fudge and Tyler Eyrich connected for back-to-back RBI singles and each came in to score on a pair ULV errors. Lee nearly added a leadoff infield hit to the assault, but the ULV second baseman J. Munoz made a great play deep in the hole at second to throw him out by a step.

ULV (11-8, 8-4 SCIAC) tacked on two more in the seventh on three hits. Another outfield assist was recorded for the home squad when Aaron Coopman tried to stretch his RBI single into a double and was gunned down by the tandem of Lee and Allen for the second out of the seventh as the only batter that Margolis faced, leaving the score at 6-5.

An insurance run crossed the plate in the bottom of the seventh as pinch hitter David Feasler doubled and pinch runner Ross Pomerantz came in to score on a single by Ugai after he stole third base.

 The Leopards could not catch up to Brooks Belter after he entered with two outs in the seventh. The senior righty hit 91 on the gun as he struck out four in his 2.1 innings of work on the afternoon, recording his fourth save of the spring. Belter added a putout when he got his glove up just in time to snag a line drive, come backer for the second out of the ninth. 

Allen, Eyrich and Ugai had two hits apiece in the win and Allen had team highs with three hits and three runs on the day.

In the field, overall, Fudge finished with 20 touches, 16 putouts and four assists without an error. Garrett was part of 18 outs with 12 putouts and six assists, also without an error. Allen was busy at shortstop, covering a lot of ground as usual, with 11 assists and two putouts.

Occidental (8-11, 4-7) will have a break in SCIAC action as they play four games in the California Invitational next weekend, March 19-20 at Anderson Field. Oxy will host Denison University (OH) at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday before meeting Rutgers-Newark (NJ) on the diamond at 3:00 p.m.

Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director