The annual Orange and Blue World Series split the 38-man baseball roster into two squads this weekend.
In one dugout, the Orange Lions were captained by senior Corey Miller and his assistant freshman Ben Rodriguez. Across the diamond, senior Matt Maurer, assisted by freshman Aaron Burnett, took the helm for the Blue Moose.
How did the teams fare without their coaches?
Maurer comments that there were “very optimistic showings from guys we didn’t expect. Quite a few freshman played really well … [It’s] good when we can have freshman step up.”
Blue Moose assistant coach, Burnett added his perspective on the three games:
“Everything we do works up to the series; what we learn [is] incorporate[d] into the game, the coaches let us go out there and play baseball [to] capstone … the fall. There was definitely competition, and everyone contributed,”
However, Maurer and Burnett’s collective efforts managing the Blue Moose fell short.
On Nov. 8, sophomore Jackson McClelland blanked his teammates-turned-rivals; he surrendered no runs while limiting his opponents to two hits over six innings pitched. Sophomore Evan Dunn followed suit by completing two innings of scoreless relief, and sophomore Ivan Dilda pitched a perfect ninth.
As all good baseball players know, it takes more than pitching to win games. For the Orange Lions, freshmen Michael Perri and Nick Costello provided all the offense needed to secure the victory for the night. The 1-0 walk-off that ensued came as a result of Perri’s run scoring two-out double in the ninth inning.
The next game proved to be a day of atonement for the Blue Team, as it unleashed a massive offensive attack.
Junior Bryan Langlois began the first frame with an RBI double, and Burnett singled him home to tack on another run. Maurer’s line-up continued to pump out the runs as they extended the lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning thanks to RBI’s from freshmen Cole Maltese and Mitchell Gallagher.
A four-run sixth inning charge, featuring a two-run triple from sophomore Hutton Moyer lit the scoreboard ablaze and pushed the game far out of their opponent’s reach.
Freshman George Alamillo pitched the final three innings en route towards preserving the 9-0 shutout over the Lions on Nov. 9.
With the series tied 1-1, and the classic being played best of three, Sunday’s game was the deciding matchup between the two squads to wrap up the “World Series.”
Thankfully for the Lions, their starting pitcher, junior Aaron Brown, succeeded in holding the Blue team down. He allowed one earned run, gave up three hits and struck out six over 6.1 innings pitched. His performance secured Team Orange’s 5-2 victory, and the series win.
For his six innings pitched, the Redlands East Valley High Alumni McClelland was named the Series’ Most Outstanding Pitcher, while a hefty .364 batting average led to freshman Nick Costello being named the Most Outstanding Player.
Next, the Pepperdine crew travels to Taiwan to compete in the Formosa Cup from Nov. 28-30.
“Taiwan [will be the] experience of a lifetime. We’re going to go and represent America with some of the best collegiate teams,” Maurer said. “[It] doesn’t affect our season, but we’re definitely excited. It’s an amazing opportunity as far as the collegiate league [goes] and [we] want to make the best of it.”
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As published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
