LA VERNE, Calif. --- The Pacific Lutheran Baseball team dropped game one of their California road trip on Friday to La Verne by a score of 13-3.
 
Freshman Matthew Sherwood made his second appearance on the mound this season as he started the 2 p.m. game for the Lutes. The freshman gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the first but quickly recovered with a pair of groundouts and catching a lineout back to the mound to escape the inning. Senior Ashton Barton got the hits started for the Lutes in the bottom of the second inning with a single that found the left field grass. The Leopards quickly shut the door with consecutive ground outs with one leading to a double play.
 
Sherwood would open the bottom of the second allowing a second leadoff single which would later advance to second on a passed ball. Two strikeouts and a groundout would get the pitcher out of the inning with no damage.
 
Following three balls in play that led to outs by the Lutes bats, the Leopards would open the scoring for the game in the bottom of the third. A walk followed by a double and a single led to two runs for La Verne, taking a 2-0 lead through three innings. The Lutes would immediately answer in the fourth with two batters earning free bases on a walk and hit-by-pitch before Aaaron Barber drove the two runners home with a single to center field; tying the game up at 2-2.
 
The 2-2 game wouldn't last much longer though, as La Verne's bats would continue to heat up thanks to four hits that led to three runners scoring and giving the Leopards a 5-2 lead. Sherwood's outing would come to an end after just four innings, four earned runs, eight hits, and two strikeouts on 72 pitches.
 
With the Lutes bats going cold in the fifth, Anthony Adams came in relief for the Lutes on the mound in the home half of the inning. Adams would hit his first batter with a pitch before advancing him to second base on a balk. A wild pitch would then advance the runner to third, but Adams then balked yet again, scoring the runner to make it a 6-2 ballgame. Adams outing would be done after just two-thirds of an inning and one earned run on 17 pitches.
 
The Leopards added to their lead in the sixth with a two-out double that would clear the loaded bases shortly after the Lutes put Stevan Rodriguez on the bump. Another double by the Leopards came in the bottom of the 7^th, scoring one and entending the La Verne lead to 10-2.
 
Junior Peter King earned a walk for the Lutes in the top of the eighth, to which he would score thanks to a throwing error on the bases followed by a wild pitch. The late lone run for the Lutes would fail to stop the Leopards from adding on in the home half as La Verne tacked on three more, putting the game out of reach and going on to take game one; 13-3.
 
The Lutes scored three runs on two hits over the nine innings, earning three walks and leaving three more on the bases. Barber and Barton each went one-for-four at the plate, with Barber earning the only two runs batted in for the Lutes.
 
"We had a rough one today. Our offense got shutdown by good arms and our pitching struggled. We need to start playing better in every phase of the game." Said Head Coach Nolan Soete following Friday's game.
 
Soete and the Lutes look to rebound tomorrow against La Verne in a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
 
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