Waves take two wins in Texas

NOAH GODWIN
Assistant Sports Editor

The natural rivalry between Pepperdine and Tulane University may have begun because Pepperdine’s the Waves and Tulane’s the Green Wave. It has continued, however, because both programs continue to field competitive baseball teams.

Pepperdine has established itself as one of the top programs in the country and possibly the top program in Southern California.

In the past 25 years, only Pepperdine and California State University, Fullerton, have won more than 1,000 games, and the Waves’ .658 winning percentage over that span barely trails Fullerton’s .701.

Although the Waves have the home-field advantage with the games being played at Eddy D. Field Stadium tomorrow at 2 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m., Pepperdine will be the underdog.

Right now, any team Tulane plays is the underdog. The Green Wave is 7-0 on the season and ranked No. 1 in the nation.

It swept No.-11 Arizona State University over the weekend, which marked the first time since 2002 the Sun Devils had been swept in a three-game series.

The Pepperdine offense has been heralded by Head Coach Steve Rodriguez as one of the strengths of this season’s team, but it will be put to the test against the stellar Green Wave pitching staff.

In seven games and 17 innings, the Green Wave relievers have yet to give up an earned run. Pitching 17 innings with an earned run average of zero is unheard of in the offense-crazy, aluminum bat-world of college baseball.

“They’re really good in almost every facet of the game, and that’s why they’re the No.-1 team in the country right now,” Rodriguez said.

This weekend the Waves rebounded from a series-opening loss to University of Houston with back-to-back wins to take the series 2-1.

Sophomore catcher Chad Tracy’s three-run double in the top of the fifth was all the offense the Waves received in the first game, and with senior Kea Kometani on the mound, it looked as if it might be enough.

But the Cougars scored a run on Kometani in the fifth and tied the game with two more in the sixth.

“Kea keeps giving us great opportunities to win, and hopefully that was the last time we’ll let a game he deserved to win slip away,” sophomore Mike Craig said.

Freshman Jason Dominguez took the first loss of his collegiate career after giving up the go-ahead run on a two-out blooper. Houston went on to win 5-3.

Pepperdine evened the series with a 6-3 win the following day behind senior Steve Kleen, who had just had his 23-game hitting streak that began last season ended after going 0-3 with two walks the day before.

Kleen pitched four innings of relief to record the save, and he also had three RBI.

Kleen’s payback wasn’t done yet as he  led a Pepperdine offensive explosion on Sunday in leading the Waves to the 18-12 victory.

He tied a school record with five hits and tied his own career high with four runs.

Freshman Barry Enright gave up a grand slam in the second inning as the Cougars raced to a 7-2 lead, but Pepperdine tied the score with five runs in the third and all but put the game away with seven runs in the fifth inning.

“Barry’s got good stuff, and this outing did little to erase the confidence we have in him,” Craig said.

All nine Pepperdine starters scored in the game.

“It feels nice and can be an impressive thing to watch when all of our bats are that alive,” Rodriguez said.

Following the series against Tulane, the Waves travel to play at Long Beach State University on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Long Beach is 5-6 this season, but all of its losses have come against teams which have chances at competing for this season’s College World Series.

And next weekend the Waves travel to Minneapolis to play in the 21st annual Dairy Queen Classic.

The Waves will get a big test when they play University of South Carolina Friday, Feb. 4.

The Gamecocks are ranked No. 5 in the country in spite of having lost six players from last season’s team to the major league draft, including two first-rounders and five players overall being selected in the first five rounds.

“Our schedule really doesn’t allow us to take any games off, which is the way the players and coaching staff want it,” Rodriguez said.

02-24-2005