LA VERNE, Calif. – After four consecutive nail-biters, the Carleton College baseball team finally played a game where the outcome was determined early on. Unfortunately for the Knights, this time that meant absorbing a 19-2 defeat at the hands of the University of La Verne, a squad receiving votes in the D3baseball.com national top-25 poll.
 
Carleton's (3-6) last four games had been decided by a combined total of six runs. The Leopards (14-3-1) made sure this one would follow a different script as they sent 11 batters to the plate during a nine-run bottom of the second inning. La Verne, which has scored 20 or more runs twice this season, kept up the pressure and scored twice in the third and fourth frames, once in the sixth, two runs in the seventh, and three more in the eighth inning. All told, the hosts collected 11 extra-base hits.
 
Carleton scored both of its runs in the seventh inning. Jacob Smith (Sr./McKinleyville, Calif./McKinleyville) doubled and came home on a single by Steve Antrim (So./Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest), who scored later in the frame on a pinch-hit single by Asher Stolberg (Fy./Sherman Oaks, Calif./Campbell Hall).
 
Smith, Sam Schur (Sr./Calabasas, Calif./Viewpoint), and Aaron Rice (Fy./Evergreen, Colo./Colorado Academy) had two hits apiece to pace the Knights.
 
The lopsided score afforded the Carleton coaching staff the opportunity to get 18 players into the game, including five pitchers.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will enjoy an off day before returning to action with a game at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, March 25. First pitch is slated for 11:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. CT.