WHITTIER, Calif. – The Poets had trouble containing the bats of La Verne all afternoon as the Leopards tallied 28 hits and 22 runs in a doubleheader sweep on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field.

The twin bill was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon but inclement weather moved the games to Sunday. La Verne won the first game 12-5 and took Game 2 by a 10-1 count.

Whittier (4-7, 1-5 SCIAC) used five arms in Game 1 and allowed nine earned runs. Keith Hoefel started and suffered his fourth loss of the season in 3.2 innings. He struck out four batters but gave up five runs (three earned).

The Poets tried to make it a game in the sixth with a four-run inning. The five-hit, four-run, frame cut the deficit to 9-5. Nick Amicone recorded an RBI single and Andrew Vallejo drove in two runs of his own to highlight the inning.

The Leopards (7-6, 4-2 SCIAC) responded with two runs in the seventh and then one more bit of insurance in the eighth en route to the seven-run win.

Alex Mitchell had two hits in the loss.

The second game got off to a rocky start for the purple and gold as starting pitcher Casey Serna was chased after just a third of an inning. Serna allowed seven runs on four hits with three hit batsmen.  Austin Nogueira tried to stop the bleeding with 1.1 innings of work but he allowed three runs on five hits.

The answer on the mound came with two outs in the second. Mike Rueda silenced La Verne's offense with 5.1 innings of shutout baseball. He allowed three hits with four strikeouts. Taylor Fallon finished the game with 2.0 scoreless innings. Fallon had two strikeouts.

Despite the strong performances by Rueda and Fallon, the Poets faced a 10-0 hole through two innings.

The only run of the game for the Poets came on a sacrifice off the bat of Dan Gleiberman. His deep fly to right field scored Sean-Michael Nada.

Vallejo and Darby Weppner each had two hits in the second game.

Whittier will return to action next weekend with a three-game series against Caltech. The first game is on Friday in Pasadena.