No one cried for them when they walked off the field. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Not against a La Verne team that is currently ranked fourth in SCIAC. And not 16-2.

The first of three contests started out all wrong as the La Verne Leopards trounced the Sagehens for five runs in the second, five runs in the fifth, and six in the ninth. The Sagehen stat line read like binary, as they managed to squeeze in a run in the third and fourth innings off of two solo home runs, shut out for the rest of the game.

The La Verne starter smothered a usually potent Sagehen offense to eight hits in his 7 2/3 innings pitched, walking none.

The top of the lineup, however, was its usual self, as the top four combined for seven of the team’s nine hits.

The Leopards’ offense was far more potent, unloading for 22 hits over nine innings, which translated into 16 runs for La Verne. Most of these runs were strung together by singles, as the Leopards only managed two extra-base hits all day, both home runs, one of them a grand slam.

To the credit of the Sagehen pitchers, of the first five runs scored, only one was earned, the rest due to errors. But once James’ peach started rolling, the runs followed, and in bunches.

The second game started not all too differently from the first, as La Verne scorched Adam Gardner ’04 for five runs in the first. However, that was the worse of it as Gardner held the Leopards scoreless for the next seven innings, walking two and striking out six. The Sagehen offense also came together, scoring in every inning except the first and eighth. They won 15-7.

Rob Ruiz PI ’03, who did not play in the first game, starred as he went 3 for 5 with four RBIs, a home run, and a double. Sagehen slugger Jose Cortez PI ‘03 added five RBIs on 3 of 4 hitting and two home runs.

"We kind of came out flat on Friday, but on Saturday we dug our spurs in and were ready to go," Luke Smude ’02 said. "We were more prepared and made better adjustments."

The second game of the double header, while not as lopsided as the first or second games, was a solid contest as each team managed 12 hits. While the previous two games saw five innings in which a team scored at least four runs, neither team scored more than two for this one, as Spike Einsiedler ’02 held the La Verne offense to two earned runs over seven innings. The Hens held on for a 7-4 win. Leading the offense once again, Sagehen slugger Cortez homered for the third game in a row, providing two RBIs on a home run and double. Bobby Boeche ’03 added three RBIs on a 3 of 5 performance.

After the past weekend, the Sagehens are batting .361 as a team while the pitching staff has held opposing batters to a .285 average. Similarly, the Sagehen staff boasts a collective ERA of 4.66 while opposing pitchers have given up 8.73 runs per nine innings.

Cortez, Matt Rager ’02 (.433), David Sawhill (.405), and Smude (.402) are all batting over .400, led by Cortez who is currently leading the team in hitting (.453), homeruns (12), RBIs (40), slugging (.953), walks (27), and on-base-percentage (.578). Rager leads with 11 doubles and two triples, while Smude is the teams hit leader at 43.

The pitching staff is led by Einsiedler, who boasts a 2.55 ERA, a 4-1 record, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.86. For the record, last year Greg Maddux had a K/BB ratio of 3.52.

"These next three weeks are very decisive for our post season, so it’s very important that lots of people come out and cheer us on down the stretch," Smude continued.