DEMOREST, Georgia - The University of La Verne built a 5-1 lead after five complete innings and held on for a 5-3 victory over the Wilmington College baseball team at the Piedmont Early Spring Tournament hosted by Piedmont University on Friday.

After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Leopards opened the scoring in the second on a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the inning, the Quakers got the bases loaded with one out, but were held to an RBI-groundout that tied the game. 

A scoreless third inning followed, but Wilmington's defense strugged in the middle innings as consecutive two-error innings led way to four runs with two of them being unearned. Trailing 5-1, the Quakers loaded the bases in the bottom of the eight on singles from Tyler Shaneyfelt and Evan Kelsey along with a walk from Jared Lammert. Caleb Scott then doubled home two runs, but that would be all WC would score as two fielder's choice and a flyout ended the inning. History would repeat itself in the ninth as Scott came up to the plate with the bases loaded once again, though this time with two outs. Yet another fielder's choice ended the game.

Gerald Terry earned the victory for La Verne, pitching six innings without surrendering an earned run. Benny Vogel tallied a three-inning save despite allowing two runs on five hits with two walks. David Ernst took the loss for the Quakers allowing three earned runs on four hits in four innings. A bright spot for Wilmington was its bullpen as Austin Christman and Zach Shepherd combined to pitch five innings of scoreless baseball.

Luke Garcia finished 1-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs for the Leopards while Ryan Vosika also had a multi-hit contest. Wilmington, which outhit La Verne 9-7, relied on the top of its lineup as Shaneyfelt went 4-for-5 and Kelsey had a three-hit game.

Wilmington (0-2) will face host Piedmont at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday) for the final game in Georgia on the weekend.