By Jared Hermann
Staff Writer
Pepperdine traveled cross-town to play Cal State Northridge Tuesday, hoping to add another loss to the nine-game losing streak Northridge incurred over the past few weeks.
With the frustration mounting, the Quakes let it all out on the Waves, especially Northridge junior shortstop Jesse Perez, who recorded his first two home runs of the season.
Perez’s home runs, coupled by the contribution of other Northridge hitters, led the team to a 9-5 win over the Waves in a non-conference game. The loss broke the Waves’ two-game winning streak and caused them to fall to two games over .500 at 14-12 on the season, while CSUN improved to 6-24.
Pepperdine’s lone bright spot on the day was junior Chris Kelly’s two-run home run in the fifth. The homerun was his league-leading eighth of the season and the 32nd of his career.
As the weather changed daily this past weekend, from windy on Friday to sunny on Saturday to foggy on Sunday, the Waves baseball team played a three-game series at Eddy D. Field Stadium against fellow West Coast Conference foe St. Mary’s. The Gaels came into the series with a 10-12 record on the season, 2-1 in WCC play.
Friday St. Mary’s added a third game to its winning streak as it beat the Waves, 7-1.
Saturday showed to be a different story as Pepperdine took the field. As the sun shined bright, senior right-hander Greg Ramirez took the mound for the Waves. In the first inning Ramirez displayed a great deal of poise as he quickly got out of a bases-loaded jam. After that he appeared to settle down, allowing only one run in his second complete game of the season.
Senior shortstop Kevin Estrada helped Ramirez settle down with his bases-loaded single through the infield that scored two runners. Standout freshman second baseman David Uribes added to the score with an RBI single.
The Waves would score five runs by the end of the inning and would end the game with six. Pepperdine would improve its record to 13-11 overall and 4-1 in WCC play with the 6-1 win Saturday. Even though Ramirez’s pitching was spectacular, only allowing one run with no walks and striking out four, Ramirez demonstrated his hard work ethic by giving the impression he was not completely pleased with his effort.
“I felt good and I guess I was pitching well, but I still gave up 10 hits,” Ramirez said after the game.
Ramirez’s complete game was followed Sunday by an even more over-hyped presentation of pitching as junior right-hander Jacob Barrack started for the Waves against St. Mary’s in the third and final game of the weekend series. Barrack lowered his ERA to a mere 2.31 in his seven innings of play by allowing only two hits, no walks, and no earned runs, as he set a career high in strikeouts with 11 on the day. That is the most strikeouts by a Pepperdine pitcher in two years, since alumnus Noah Lowry did it against Portland on May 12, 2001.
The Waves took the lead in the bottom of the first as Estrada scored on a double by Uribes, which was then followed by a base hit by Kelly that scored Uribes, making the score 2-1. Pepperdine would add another in the second and three more in the fourth with RBI’s from Kelly and freshman designated hitter Michael Beattie. By the end of the fourth inning the Waves had the lead 6-1 and would finish the game with the win 6-3. Pepperdine improved their overall record to 14-11 on the year and 5-1 in the WCC.
With his great performance Sunday, Barrack earned himself WCC/Rawlings Co-Pitcher of the Week and improved his record to 3-1 for the season.
“Co-Pitcher of the Week is a great honor,” Barrack said. “The way I pitch is that I try to set the batter up so that I can strike him out and sometimes it works better than others.”
The Waves batted .288 on the weekend against St. Mary’s College and were led by Estrada, Uribes, and sophomore catcher Nelson Caraballo. Caraballo batted .500 and scored two runs against Saint Mary’s while Estrada batted .357 with four RBI’s and four runs scored and Uribes batted .307 with two RBI’s and three runs scored.
Despite some recent tough losses, Waves are confident that they can get things going.
“As long as we play hard and play as a team, we’re bound to start winning,” Uribes said.
March 27, 2003