LA VERNE, Calif. - Jerick Nomura batted 3-4 with two runs and one RBI for the Whitman College baseball team, but it came in an 11-4 series-opening loss to La Verne in non-conference action, Friday at Ben Hines Field.

Leo Rivera had a hit, a run scored and an RBI with Matt Cho adding a hit and scoring a run. Teague Conder posted one hit and an RBI.

Travis Craven (1-3) pitched a tough six and one-third innings. He gave up eight earned runs on 13 hits and posted five strikeouts.

Cody Norman (2-1) tossed six complete innings for the win, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out five Whitman hitters. Cole McCollum and Christian Killian both had monster games for La Verne (7-9), each batting 3-5 with a pair of runs scored.

Nomura scored on a sacrifice fly in the first inning to open the scoring, but La Verne responded with four runs in the bottom of the second. Anthony Salcedo doubled in a pair of runs to open the scoring and Siffert drove home Salcedo to cap the big inning for the Leopards.

An RBI single from Salcedo in the third and and Adam Santa Cruz's run-scoring double in the fourth helped La Verne plate four more runs over the next two innings. 

The sixth inning saw Nomura drive home Cho with a run-scoring double as the Blues tried to get back into the game. The Leopards responded one inning later to expand the lead as Keller put two more runs on the board with his two-RBI single.

The Blues and Leopards close the series on Saturday with a doubleheader set to start at 11:00 a.m.