AZUSA, Calif. - Andrew Mazzone broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a two-run homer, and Blaise Heher added a three-run double as the No. 9 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team picked up a 9-4 win over No. 2 La Verne in the first game of a huge three-game series at Cougar Stadium. 

With the win, CMS moves to 18-4 overall on the season and 8-2 in the SCIAC, while La Verne sees its record slip to 18-2 overall and 6-1 in the SCIAC after suffering its first league loss. 

CMS had one hit in the first seven innings, which was a solo homer from Nate Seluga to tie the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Seluga then led off the eighth inning with his second hit, and the second for CMS, with an infield single, which was followed by a big two-run blast from Mazzone to put the Stags ahead 5-3. 

CMS kept the offense coming and tacked on four more runs in the inning to pull away. Dillon Martin followed with a single and came home on an RBI single from Didrickson to push the lead to 6-3. Carter Bennett and Slader Spoor drew walks, and Heher cleared the bases with a double into the right-center field gap to make it a 9-3 game. 

La Verne got one run back in the ninth on a sacrifice fly, but that was the only run the Leopards could muster against Parker McGraw, who threw four innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out five to get the win and improve to 4-0 on the season. 

The two teams will be back in action tomorrow for a doubleheader at La Verne, beginning at 11 a.m.