Jane Lee
Sports Editor
1,582 miles.
That’s the distance between Pepperdine University and Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebr.
Besides Mapquest, only members of the Pepperdine baseball team would know that figure. The road to Omaha, courtesy of Mapquest of course, was taped to the wall of the Waves’ dugout for most of the season. Players walked past those directions every day, hoping to take that storied journey to Omaha like every other college baseball player in the nation dreams about.
And despite an impressive 42-21 record, despite a West Coast Conference championship title, and despite being named Baseball America’s “sleeper team” to win it all, it just wasn’t the Waves’ year to take that road.
Unfortunately for Pepperdine, the regional title game stood in the way once again, as the No-1 seeded Waves fell 8-3 to No.-4 seed Missouri on Monday, eliminating them from the NCAA Tournament and keeping them from a Super Regional for the third consecutive year.
Hosting a regional for the first time, Pepperdine came out strong in front of the home crowd, grabbing victories against Missouri on Friday and UCLA the next day to stay far away from the double elimination that would force them out.
“At that point I thought we had a pretty good chance of moving on,” Head Coach Steve Rodriguez said. “But it was also easy to see that all four teams had good pitching, so we knew we still had to work hard.”
Meanwhile, Missouri endured a 14-inning elimination game against UC Irvine on Saturday and received a pair of complete-game efforts from its starting pitchers on Sunday to eliminate UCLA and then hand the Waves their first loss to reach Monday’s championship game.
Missouri stayed hot in game seven, capitalizing on Pepperdine mistakes while the Waves failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities.
“Missouri had the timely hitting, and we made a few mistakes on the mound and didn’t score a few times with runners in scoring position with two outs,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s all a part of a learning curve and what’s important to realize is that, even though we’re losing in the regional, we’re still putting ourselves in there year after year.
“We could keep losing there for 8 or 9 years, but the truth of the matter is that we’re getting there.”
Despite being eliminated, the Waves had three players named to the Malibu Regional All-Region Team. Sophomores Danny Worth (shortstop) and Adrian Ortiz (outfield) along with junior Justin Tellam (designated hitter) received the honor for their respective positions.
“It was a great run,” Rodriguez said. “It’s all about getting the momentum at the right time and, unfortunately, we were at the losing end of it this year.
“I just told my players that that’s why it’s so important to stay on top of their game mentally and physically.”
Rodriguez and his Waves will look to bounce back next year with a revamped roster.
Juniors Chad Tracy and Tellam and seniors Paul Coleman, David Uribes and Nick Kliebert were all taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Rodriguez said he expects all five to accept a deal with their respective teams, which means big changes for next year’s team.
“It’s hard losing key players like that, but we have a group of extremely talented players coming in,” Rodriguez said.
With that said, it’s only a matter of time before the Waves take the field at Eddy D. Field Stadium again. It may not take 1,582 miles to get there, but it’s home. And home is where the journey begins.
06-07-2006
