Graduate right-handed pitcher Tommy Scavone strides down the mound against the University of San Diego Toreros on March 28 at Eddy D. Field Stadium. Scavone tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in his appearance. Photos by Katherine Lytle
Pepperdine Baseball took two of three games against the University of San Diego Toreros on March 27-29 at Eddy D. Field Stadium. The Waves bounced back after a loss in Game 1 with two wins Saturday and Sunday to steal the series.
The Waves’ offense showed out in the final two games, putting up a combined 10 runs on 18 hits. Pepperdine improved to 9-18 overall and 4-2 in West Coast Conference play.
“There’s just a lot of resiliency in this group — to lose on Friday both weekends and to come back on Saturday and Sunday against two really good programs in Saint Mary’s and San Diego — to come back and win the series is really, really huge,” Head Coach Tyler LaTorre said.
Game 1
The Waves fell 5-1 in the series opener despite sophomore left-hander Casey Euper going 4.1 solid innings. Euper came out firing in the first inning, striking out the first two batters. The Toreros plated one run in the first courtesy of graduate outfielder Andrew Gauna’s double.
Pepperdine hitters struck out three times in the bottom half of the inning, but not before graduate infielder Daniel Patterson blasted his seventh home run of the season, tying the game at one a piece. For San Diego, graduate right-handed pitcher Diego Gutierrez started the game and threw five innings, surrendering one run on three hits while striking out eight.
Pepperdine’s offense recorded four hits in the contest, with graduate infielder Julian Nunez tallying a team-high two hits. Patterson’s homer and junior infielder Kai Laxa’s infield single in the third inning accounted for the remaining two hits.
The Waves’ defensive miscues in the fifth inning led to three Torero runs, and Pepperdine struggled to get anything going, only putting up one hit in the final four innings. San Diego capitalized on Pepperdine’s defensive woes, as Gauna belted a two-run homer to extend the Toreros lead to 4-1.
The Toreros tallied one more run in the seventh thanks to senior catcher Jayden Lobliner’s solo home run. Out of the Waves’ bullpen, graduate left-handed pitcher Gabe Maya tossed a scoreless sixth inning and freshman right-hander Arnold Wu threw 1.1 scoreless, allowing no hits and striking out one.
Euper fell to 1-3 on the season and moved his ERA to 3.71 in 26.2 innings pitched. Patterson leads the Waves offense with seven home runs and 18 RBIs, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Graduate infielder Daniel Patterson squares up the ball and send it into the outfield against the University of San Diego Toreros on March 28 at Eddy D. Field Stadium. Patterson is hitting .302 and leads the team with home runs with eight.
Game 2
Pepperdine bounced back in Game 2 and defeated the Toreros 3-0 courtesy of graduate right-handed pitcher Tommy Scavone’s stellar outing. Scavone threw six innings, allowing zero runs on two hits while striking out eight.
“Just first-pitch strikes, and I’m just trying to get ahead of everybody and play off my fastball,” Scavone said.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Jack Fowler threw two scoreless innings in relief of Scavone, allowing no hits and striking out two, and graduate right-hander Lucien Wechsberg threw a scoreless ninth inning and picked up his third save of the season.
Scavone brought his season record to 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 4.97. Wechsberg lowered his ERA to a team-leading 1.35 in 13.1 innings pitched, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“We play Thursday, Friday and Saturday and it’s going to be cold so I hope that I can just keep attacking from pitch one,” Scavone said.
Scavone also earned WCC Pitcher of the Week honors for his outing against San Diego, making him the second Wave this season to receive a conference award, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
On offense, the Waves racked up seven hits on the day with Laxa leading the team on two hits. Graduate outfielder Trey Dunn put the Waves on the board first in the third inning with a two-run homer.
Pepperdine chased San Diego’s starting pitcher, sophomore right-hander Fernando Palencia, out of the game in the fourth inning after putting up two runs. The Waves recorded one more run in the seventh after Nunez took advantage of a passed ball.
San Diego hitters struck out a combined 11 times in the game and were only able to advance one runner. Pepperdine played an all around clean game on defense, allowing zero errors and redshirt junior Joe Cardinale’s leaping grab in the third inning robbed USD’s sophomore utility man CJ Moran of a home run.
Graduate infielder Julian Nunez fields the ball and preps to fire toward first base against the University of San Diego Toreros on March 28 at Eddy D. Field Stadium. Nunez leads the team in on-base-percentage at .391.
Game 3
The Waves offense hit their stride in Game 3, as Pepperdine took down San Diego 7-4. Dunn got things going in the bottom of the first by blasting his fifth home run of the season and collecting three RBIs. The Toreros responded with one run of their own in the top of the second courtesy of senior infielder Connor Meidroth’s single.
San Diego tacked on more runs in the third inning thanks to Moran’s single and Gauna’s double, leaving the game tied at three. USD kept rolling in the fourth with freshman outfielder Phoenix Brandt hitting a double and driving in a run. Pepperdine answered with two runs of their own in the fifth as both Patterson and freshman first baseman James Dell’Amico hit doubles.
The Waves added one more in the sixth and seventh innings and were able to keep the Torero bats at bay for the rest of the contest. Redshirt junior left-hander Collin Valentine started on the mound for the Waves and threw four solid innings while striking out three.
However, it was senior right-hander Dylan Stewart that stole the show in relief. Stewart threw five scoreless innings, giving up just one hit while striking out six. Stewart also picked up his first win of the season, raising his record to 1-1.
For San Diego, they went deep into their bullpen and used five pitchers in the game with junior left-hander Kyle Bade, the starter, only going one inning and giving up three runs.
“A big thing that we’ve been talking about is controlling the controllables,” Laxa said.
Laxa led the Waves in hitting for the weekend, finishing 6-11 and raising his season batting average to .298.
“I really trusted my guys, and I think just learning and continuing to grow and staying as one unit, especially on defense today, I think that we really stayed connected,” Laxa said.
Pepperdine is tied for third in the WCC baseball standings at 4-2 with two victories over the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels and USD, according to WCC Sports.
“They love playing together, and so to see that out on the field and the work that they put in every day to see them win on the scoreboard is really, really happy to see,” LaTorre said.
Pepperdine continued their home stand with a mid-week matchup against the California State University, Northridge Matadors on March 31. The Waves fell to CSUN 12-1 earlier this season. The Waves got revenge, however, as they took down the Matadors 6-5 courtesy of Patterson’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.
More importantly though, Pepperdine will return to the road and take on the Gonzaga University Bulldogs for their third conference series April 2-4 in Spokane, Wash.
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Contact Connor Ford via email: connor.ford@pepperdine.edu