Following two blow-out wins in its first weekend of action the baseball team’s inexperienced pitching staff showed its youth days later as the Waves lost at home to Cal Poly on Tuesday 12-4.
Despite the recent loss the team is still exceeding expectations as Pepperdine upset the No. 4-ranked Cal State Fullerton Titans on Saturday in Orange County and knocked off the Oregon Ducks in the Waves’ home opener Sunday 12-7. Junior left-handed pitcher Matt Bywater turned in one of the best performances in years throwing a complete game shutout against the Titans— the first of the season. The pitcher’s mound showed vast potential in three experienced starting pitchers with Bywater ending the weekend as a nationally recognized standout.
The southpaw was named the Pro-Line Athletic National Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Sunday and was announced the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Both awards are career firsts for Bywater.
“My mindset going into the game was that I had to put up a couple scoreless innings to allow us to take the lead early and relieve some of the pressure he said. A big win in a game against a team like Fullerton gives us tons of confidence to challenge any team we come across. Overall the weekend was a success and our hitters are hitting the ball hard and gaining more confidence as well.”
Bywater struck out 10 and scattered four hits as the Waves’ offense gave him some breathing room knocking in six runs. He also made two double plays and escaped jams with runners on third base twice after the seventh-inning stretch. This was the Waves’ first victory against a top-five team since 2006.
While the season-opener at Long Beach on Feb. 19 ended in a 2-1 loss redshirt sophomore pitcher Cole Cook struck out seven batters in his sixth quality start. Cook’s fastball averaged 93 miles per hour throughout the night while hitting an occasional 96 on the radar gun.
“I was able to settle down in the later part of the game and started pitching to my strengths instead of just trying to throw Cook said. I thought my performance was alright but anytime that I walk away from the mound without a win for the team it’s a letdown for me.”
Sunday afternoon’s home-opener saw further success for the weekend as Pepperdine knocked off the then-undefeated Oregon Ducks 11-7 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Freshman second baseman Joe Sever was clicking on all cylinders to lead the Waves tying an individual game record with five hits and scoring four of Pepperdine’s runs.
“I feel like the first few games have gone pretty well Sever said. We have shown signs of a team that could go far this year. The first couple games I have been doing all I can do to help the team win so I am happy with that but there’s always room to get better.”
Senior Robert Dickmann picked up right where Bywater left off just two days prior. Dickmann was dazzling throwing 99 pitches through seven solid innings and allowing only three earned runs on eight hits.
Following the weekend’s success Head Coach Steve Rodriguez allowed a few newcomers to step onto the home mound Tuesday against Cal Poly. First-start jitters from Freshman Alex Najera coupled with a potent Mustang offense wrecked havoc on the Waves. Pepperdine found itself in an early 7-0 hole after four innings and couldn’t ever quite recover. The game ended in a 12-4 loss and evened the Waves’ season record at 2-2.
“I was a little nervous about starting today as I am sure any freshman would be Najera said following his first collegiate start. But once the first inning passed I knew I could do it. Overall I was pretty happy for my first outing. For my next appearance I will work to continue getting better and stay with my same mind set which is just to relax and do what I do best.”
Najera said he hopes to see more time on the mound for weekday games. Three freshman pitchers relieved him during the game yet all had similar beginner’s results.
Despite the inexperienced pitching in the loss against Cal Poly sophomore Tyler Brubaker was one of the few bright spots blasting a two-run homer his first of the season. Sever also tallied three hits and reached base a fourth time with a walk.
“Of course all of us ideally would like to be 4-0 right now instead of 2 -2 but we all have our eyes focused forward to the games ahead Sever said. My mindset going into the next couple of games is to do whatever it takes to win and hopefully take three wins this weekend. We want to build some momentum before we head back to Louisiana to take on a very good LSU team.”
The team plays at Cal State Northridge this weekend in a three-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. The Waves take on the Matadors at home Saturday at 1 p.m. and finish up the series back at Northridge Sunday.
