TUCSON, Ariz. – Tyler Thompson and Drew Oord combined for four hits and Kyle Rossman limited La Verne to two earned runs in eight innings on the mound as the 17th-ranked Pacific Lutheran baseball team opened its trip to Arizona with a 6-4 win over the Leopards Friday morning.

"It was a good team win today," PLU head coach Nolan Soete said. "We played pretty good defense, and Kyle did an excellent job on the mound. He had a tough first inning and then grinded through the next seven. It was an impressive performance."

Rossman earned his first win of the season after striking out seven while allowing six hits in eight innings. Garrett Brown closed out the ninth inning for the Lutes to earn his first save of the year. Thompson added a pair of doubles on offense and drove in two runs, while Oord tallied two hits and one run batted in.

"It was a good win for us," Thompson said. "We put all three phases together today. Kyle and Garrett pitched well, we had timely hitting and we played good defense."

La Verne got on the board with a run in the top of the first inning, but the Lutes made sure the Leopard lead did not last long. Kyler Blades walked to start the bottom of the second, and after Frank Airey reached on an error Cole Johnson sacrificed the runners over to second and third for Thompson to bring home with his first double of the day.

The Lutes added another run in the third, as Airey led off with a single and Thompson doubled him over to third. Oord brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Three more runs came in to score in the bottom of the fourth. Brett Johnson singled and Kory VanderStaay reached on an error that put runners at second and third. Connor Cantu singled to bring both home, and after Cantu stole second he came in to score on a single by Cole Johnson.

La Verne got two back in the top of the fifth to make it 6-3, and the Leopards tacked on one more in the top of the ninth. The win improved PLU's record to 2-3 overall, while La Verne fell to 0-1 to start the season. The Lutes take on Redlands in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m. MST.

"It was nice to see our team mature throughout a close game and pull together for the win," Oord said.