THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Kingsmen baseball got back in the win column in today's afternoon match up against La Verne.

The Purple and Gold trailed the Leopards up until the bottom of the fourth inning. La Verne took the early lead with a run in the top of the first. They scored again in the top of the third going up 2-0. Ryan Farr had the first RBI of the game as he hit a single sending Kyle Reuser across home plate.

The Purple and Gold had Ben Wangrin on third and Sean Blandino on first in the bottom of the fourth. Wangrin scored off a wild pitch and Blandino moved to scoring position.

Reuser hit a bomb into left field sending Blandino home and Nick Fusari to third base. To complete the scoring in the bottom of the fourth, Will Watson had an RBI that sent Fusari home. By the end of the fourth the Kingsmen had the 4-2.

The Leopards fought back to tie the game up but Brendan Durfee finished it off in the bottom of the fifth. Durfee singled through the right-side sending Farr across home plate.

Max Kendall started on the mound for the Kingsmen and faced 15 batters in 2.2 innings. Kendall through 28 strikes in his time on the mound. Relieving Kendall was Tristan Dupont. Dupont threw 21 strikes on 31 pitches.

Freshman Luke Wechsler came in during the top of the fifth to get the final out. Wechsler continued on the mound for the sixth inning and threw 10 strikes and allowed zero hits. This earned Wechsler the win.

Zach Creighton stepped on the mound for two innings and tallied four strike outs. Creighton threw 24 strikes on 32 pitches and set up the last inning for Matt Campo. Campo earned the save and had one strikeout between the three batters he faced.

The Kingsmen are back in the diamond on Friday at Chapman at 3 pm.

Box Score: CLU 5, ULV 4
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Release by Cate Boller, Assistant Sports Information Director