The University of La Verne baseball team seemed in pretty good shape in the SCIAC a week or so ago but three straight losses have put the Leopards in a more precarious situation.
Sure the Leopards are in the preferable position of first place. It’s up to the other teams to try and play catch up. The Leopards lost to Pomona-Pitzer 8-2 today and it wasn’t really even that close.
So the Leopards are 23-13 and 18-7 in SCIAC play with games left against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Whittier and Cal Lutheran.
Pomona-Pitzer (22-12, 16-9) has a bit of an easier trek with a game left with lowly Caltech, CMS and Redlands.
Then there’s Cal Lutheran (20-13, 15-9) which has La Verne, Caltech, Occidental and Redlands.
La Verne has to be most worried about Pomon-Pitzer because it split that series, 2 games each. The Leopards won their first three games vs. Cal Lutheran so they already have that head-to-head tiebreaker.
It’s about to get interesting. La Verne is also likely to face top pitchers the rest of the way and the one from Whittier no-hit them the last time.
History might be a bit ominous. Call it the even-year crash and burn. in 2008 Pomona-Pitzer had a nice lead, only to lose its last six games, the title being decided with a loss on the final day, to of all teams, La Verne.
In 2010 Redlands lost five of its last six, dropping five in a row before ending the season with a win over Caltech. Pomona-Pitzer walked away the champion.
So now its 2012. Well . . .
It would be nice to see the Leopards finish the job. At the risk of being called a homer, the Leopards have prevailed in a tough situation, playing every game on the road with no home field to call their own, not just for this year but next year too.
They have never once complained or used that disadvantage as an excuse.
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