NOAH GODWIN
Assistant Sports Editor
Ph. courtasy of Graham Shea/Ass. Ph. Edit.
If Saturday’s alumni baseball game was any indication of how good this year’s team will be, then this season has the promise of being even more special than the last.
Last season’s team won the West Coast Conference Tournament and was one win shy of knocking out eventual national champion California State University, Fullerton.
Second-year Head Coach Steve Rodriguez returns 22 letter-winners and has a roster bolstered by one of the top recruiting classes in America.
Included in that recruiting class are Adrian Ortiz and Danny Worth, both of whom shined in their first appearances in a Waves’ uniform, collecting two hits each.
Sophomore left fielder Luke Salas also collected a pair of hits, and he scored a run and knocked in two.
By the end of the first inning, the rout was in effect. The Waves cruised to a 16-1 victory.
The current players hit better, fielded more smoothly and had more consistent pitching than the alumni. Add all of that up and the score could have been even more lopsided.
Even though the outcome of the game was never in doubt, the game provided ample entertainment.
In addition to seeing this year’s team playing together for the first time, fans were treated to many past greats who once donned the Pepperdine blue and orange.
Current major leaguer Danny Garcia, who is with the New York Mets, played in the game.
Two players from last year’s team played in the game as well, and it was without question an unfamiliar sight to witness Jacob Barrack and Cory Brightwell, who were both integral parts of last year’s team, playing against Pepperdine.
The first few innings were the most competitive because alumni head coach Dr. Robert Sexton played his most up-to-speed players early in the game.
And in the later innings, Coach Sexton cleared the bench in an attempt to get everybody some playing time. The results could not have been scripted any better.
Players who were stars in their prime quickly discovered that while they may have remembered how to play at the high level of top-collegiate baseball, they no longer had the ability.
Pitchers who once regularly hit spots no wider than an inch found themselves hoping to just hit the strike zone.
Fielders who went entire seasons without committing an error looked perplexed when they failed to make what was once the most routine of plays.
In short, the later innings of the game looked like a grown-up version of the Bad News Bears.
But the current players kept playing hard.
“We were excited to be playing against somebody other than ourselves because the loser in an intra-squad game has to run,” junior pitcher James Johnson said.
The alumni were never able to generate any momentum because senior right-handers Kea Kometani and Steve Kleen each threw four innings and junior left-hander Paul Coleman worked a scoreless ninth.
It was a great way for the Waves to kick off the baseball season, and all the people involved, including those alumni players making uncharacteristic mistakes and especially the fans getting to watch them, looked as if they were having a great time.
02-03-2005
