By Jared Hermann
Staff Writer
During the past few weeks while many Pepperdine students were partaking in Spring Break festivities, returning to Malibu and attempting to get settled into school mode again, the Pepperdine baseball team was battling it out on the diamond.
Wednesday the Waves (10-7) took on the University of California Irvine Anteaters (8-12) at Eddie D. Field Stadium.
Irvine jumped on Pepperdine with an early three-run lead in the top of the first inning. Pepperdine began to retaliate in the bottom of the inning when junior left fielder Chris Kelly hit a two-run homer, extending his hitting streak to eight games and moving him into a tie for third place on Pepperdine’s all-time homerun list with 30.
But as the game continued, so did Irvine’s offense. The Anteaters were able to squeeze out 12 hits against the Pepperdine pitching staff. When the final out was made, UCI came out on top 9-4, dropping the Waves to 10-7 on the season.
The day before, in a rematch of an early season beating by Pepperdine, USC snapped the Waves’ eight-game home win streak on Tuesday. In a difficult loss, the Trojans were able to grab the victory 9-6, despite a solid effort by the Waves.
Senior infielder Ty Harper said he isn’t worried and said the team’s pitching staff will start to get itself back on track.
“We take the season one game at a time,” Harper said. “As long as we keep hitting we should do fine.”
Friday Pepperdine faced off against West Coast Conference rival Gonzaga.
To start the series, Waves right-hander Brandon Boesch picked up where he left off in his last start, giving up just two hits as he threw a complete game shutout, lowering his season ERA to 1.57. Second baseman David Uribes provided the offensive power as he recorded three hits and four RBIs as Pepperdine went on to win 8-0.
“When I’m on the mound I just try to compete to the best of my ability and pitch well enough to help our team win,” Boesch said.
Then in a doubleheader on Saturday the Waves showed the rest of the WCC why they are going to be the conference champs as Pepperdine defeated Gonzaga again, this time 5-3 in the first game and 2-1 in the second game. In the first game right hander Greg Ramirez seemed to be playing catch with sophomore catcher Nelson Caraballo as Ramirez, in just an hour and 56 minutes, picked up his first win of the season, striking out five and recording his first career complete game.
“The team had a lot of great defensive plays,” Ramirez said. “As a result, I wasn’t forced to throw a lot of pitches and that helped me have the strength to go the entire game.”
In the nightcap of the doubleheader Pepperdine teased Gonzaga by waiting to score their runs until the final inning, as the Waves are used to doing. Pepperdine scored their final run in the bottom of the ninth inning as sophomore third baseman Patrick Rooney hit in the winning run and lifted the Waves 3-0 in WCC play.
This week Pepperdine plays five games in seven days as it looks to improve its suffering win-loss record. March 16-18 the team takes on Coastal Carolina here in Malibu, before more home games against University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Long Beach State on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
March 13, 2003