CMS Baseball Has Late Leads in Both, But Suffers Doubleheader Sweep at La Verne

LA VERNE, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball took leads into the bottom of the eighth inning in both games against SCIAC-leading La Verne on Saturday and came up short both times as the Leopards won 8-5 and 4-3 to complete a three-game series sweep.

The losses drop CMS to 10-8 on the year and 1-5 in the SCIAC, with four of its SCIAC losses coming in its opponent's final at-bat (two against Chapman, and two on Saturday to La Verne). The Leopards stay perfect in league play this year, improving to 13-3-1 overall and 6-0 in conference. 

In the opener on Saturday, Jarrett Korson threw seven strong innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs, before leaving the game with a 3-2 lead. The Stags went ahead 2-0 on a double play groundout in the second and a sacrifice fly from Marco Castillo in the third. After La Verne got one back, Miles Cook singled to drive in a run to make it 3-1 in the fourth, before the Leopards drove in an unearned run in the bottom half to make the score 3-2. 

That score remained unchanged until the eighth, when Brandon Shiota started a six-run rally with an RBI single to tie it. Jacob Guteirrez had a two-run triple to extend it 7-3 and came home to make it 8-3. 

All the runs would prove to be important, as CMS loaded the bases with nobody out on an error and a pair of hit-by-pitches, and Paul Roche had a pinch-hit RBI single to make it 8-4 and bring the tying run to the plate. Castillo had his second sacrifice fly of the game to close it to 8-5, but the Leopards were able to hang on. Castillo finished the game 3-for-3 with two sac flies in the losing cause. 

In the nightcap, CMS again took a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning, but Malachi Francois had the big hit of the game with a two-run pinch-hit double. Alfredo Frey came out of the bullpen to retire the Stags in order in the ninth to get the save. 

Castillo started the scoring with another sacrifice fly in the third, which was dropped to allow him to reach base and prolong the inning, which was followed by another sacrifice fly from Nick Wilson. After La Verne tied it, Wilson had his second RBI of the game with a single in the fifth, scoring Tyler Shaw, which held up as the difference until Francois came through with his double.

CMS managed six hits in the nightcap from six different players, with Shaw and Cook picking up doubles. PJ Wendler had a strong start, going into the eighth with a 3-2 lead, but took the tough luck loss when allowing two hits in the eighth, both of whom came home to score. 

The series opener on Friday saw the Leopards win 11-1 in seven innings. Shaw, Castillo and Wilson all went 2-for-4, and Brandon Rho was 2-for-3, but La Verne scored six times in the sixth to break it open. 

The Stags will be back in action next weekend for four home games in three days from Friday through Sunday against Castleton and Puget Sound.