There may not be any lights adorning Eddy D. Field Stadium but there was plenty of electricity flowing in Malibu during the Waves’ season-opening series against Cal State Northridge.
Pepperdine compiled six home runs including a pair of walk-off shots to take the three-game series versus the Matadors. On Wednesday the team received stellar pitching and pounded 11 hits – but no home runs – to record a 10-1 rout against USC. Touted as one of the NCAA’s best teams the Waves proved themselves worthy of the national attention in their first test of the season.
“Any time you can win a weekend series against anybody everybody’s always happy said Head Coach Steve Rodriguez. When you’re having to play intersquads and practices as much as we are right now you never really quite know exactly what you have until you put another team out there.”
Northridge (1-2) got on the board first in Friday’s season opener. After catcher John Parham drew a walk to lead off the fourth inning infielder Ryan Pineda homered to left field to put the Matadors on top 2-0.
But the Waves answered back in their half of the inning on senior outfielder Nate Simon’s two-run homer his first of three big flies in the series.
The score remained tied at 2 until the top of the ninth when Northridge left fielder Richard Cates blasted an 0-1 offering from junior reliever Bryce Uhrig over the wall in center.
With Pepperdine at a 3-2 disadvantage heading into the bottom of the ninth the team was in need of some last-minute heroics. Luckily Simon still had some power up his sleeve. Wasting no time the senior took the second pitch by Northridge reliever Bryce Schoening and launched it to the deepest part of the ballpark for a 3-3 tie and his second home run of the game. After a pitching change by the Matadors Pepperidne’s next batter senior infielder Denny Duron worked his way to a full count before providing the walk-off blast a laser of a home run to left field.
This concluded the Pepperdine baseball program’s 70th season opener leaving the Waves on the winning end of the 4-3 slugfest.
Senior starter Nathan Newman pitched well enough to get the win allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits in 8 innings of work but he left the game with the score tied at 2. Instead freshman Aaron Gates who retired the final batter of the ninth in his first game at the college level earned the victory (1-0).
Northridge hosted the second game of the series on Saturday and managed to keep Pepperdine’s offense in check as Matadors starter Ryan Juarez tossed six innings of two-run baseball. His only glitch in an otherwise solid outing came in the sixth inning when he allowed back-to-back home runs to Waves senior left fielder David Harris and redshirt junior first baseman Ryan Heroy.
But this was all Pepperdine could muster in terms of run production on Saturday and Northridge ran away with a 6-2 victory to even the series.
The teams returned to Malibu for the rubber match on Sunday. Waves senior starter Robert Dickmann initially looked to be headed for the showers early as he allowed five hits and two walks in the first three innings alone. However with some timely pitching including four strike outs he was able to work his way out of several tough spots.
“I was comfortable – I was just a little unhappy Dickmann said. I was getting behind batters [and] my off speed stuff wasn’t working. I was fortunate to get out of all those jams.”
Simon provided Dickmann with some key defense in the top of the second. With two outs and a man on second Northridge outfielder Jeff Pruitt singled on a sharp ground ball to right. Simon scooped up the ball and fired it home nailing the runner at the plate for the final out of the inning.
Junior catcher Trent Diedrich’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth accounted for the game’s first run and put the Waves on top 1-0.
Dickmann settled down after the third allowing just two Matadors to reach base during his latter two-plus innings. He left the game in the sixth with no outs and a runner on second.
“I don’t think it was one of his better starts but really competed well Rodriguez said. He got some big outs when he needed them which is really all you can ask for.”
Gates who came in to relieve Dickmann in the sixth inning struck out his first batter but then gave up a single to second baseman Justin DeMarco for the tying run.
Pepperdine reclaimed the lead in the seventh inning. With one out Harris blooped a single that dropped just in front of left fielder Cates scoring the go-ahead runner from second base.
In the eighth Waves senior closer Nick Gaudi held the Matadors down despite surrendering a lead-off double to infielder Ryan Pienda. However he was not so lucky in the top of the ninth when he gave up an RBI single to Parham to tie the game at 2 and force the game into extra innings.
“You always want to get the save when you have the opportunity Gaudi said. But just keeping us in there and battling through some tough situations … is pretty much what you want to do. If you can’t get the save you might as well keep it tight as long as you can.”
And this is exactly what Gaudi did in the top of the 10th inning as he shut down the Matadors in order and gave his team the opportunity for another walk-off win.
Northridge reliever Brian Slover was cruising along after striking out Harris and Heroy to start the bottom of the 10th. Then Simon stepped to the plate determined to find a heater he could drive.
“I wasn’t trying to hit a home run I was just trying to hit the ball Simon said. He (Slover) is a hard thrower and it was a fastball count so I was looking for a fastball and I got a jump on it.”
Simon blasted a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left center for the team’s second walk-off home run in three games. With the 3-2 extra-innings victory the Waves claimed the series win over Northridge.
The bats stayed hot on Wednesday at USC and combined with unstoppable pitching the Waves pounded the Trojans 10-0.Pepperdine (3-1) scored seven of its 10 runs in the first two innings capitalizing on three Trojan errors to break the game open early. In the second Simon delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing triple to centerfield.
But offense was not the only factor in the win – sophomore starter Matt Bywater pitched brilliantly in his season debut throwing six innings of shutout baseball. He kept the basepaths clear of Trojans allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out 10 to earn the victory (1-0).
Relievers redshirt freshman Cole Cook Gates and senior Doug Konoske picked up right where Bywater left off holding USC to one run in the game’s final three innings.
Simon led the Waves with 3 runs batted in. Harris also had a big day as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.The Waves open up a three-game road series against UC Davis (1-3) on Friday.