JANE LEE
Assistant Sports Editor
It was once said that when a baseball team is in a slump, it’s almost as if the field appears to its players as one big glove.
Unfortunately for the Waves, Pepperdine (21-15, 2-4) was that team last weekend, struggling offensively as it dropped two of three to San Francisco (21-14, 4-2) at Eddy D. Field Stadium while also dropping out of Baseball America’s Top 25 rankings for the first time this season.
The series loss marked the second straight losing weekend for the Waves, who had been riding high on a seven-game win streak before entering conference play at Loyola Marymount on March 31.
Junior outfielder Luke Salas said he believes part of the reason for the recent slump is Pepperdine’s West Coast Conference opponents have improved, not to mention that they all have an extra boost of momentum when facing a team like the Waves.
“The other teams have us circled on their calendars because we are a Top 25 team,” he said. “Being at the top, everyone wants to knock us down.
“With that in mind, every team is gunning for us because if they beat us, then it’s the highlight of their season.”
If Salas is right, then the Waves handed San Francisco a weekend to remember.
The series began Friday with Dons starter Scott Cousins (3-0) only allowing one earned run over eight innings to lead San Francisco to a 6-3 victory.
The Dons broke open the game in the second inning, scoring four runs to take a 4-0 lead against Pepperdine senior starter Paul Coleman (4-3).
Taking advantage of two San Francisco errors, the Waves answered with three runs of their own in the third, but it would be the only time they would score in the game.
Freshman third baseman Chase d’Arnaud doubled to open the inning and moved to third on a single by senior second baseman David Uribes. Following a sacrifice bunt from sophomore center fielder Adrian Ortiz, d’Arnaud scored the Waves’ first run when he was safe on the fielder’s choice.
Pepperdine cut the lead in half when junior catcher Chad Tracy reached on a throwing error, allowing Uribes to score from second base. Ortiz and Tracy moved up to second base and third base, respectively, when another error was made. Sophomore shortstop Danny Worth made it a 4-3 game when he hit a sacrifice fly to plate Ortiz.
The score remained 4-3 until the seventh inning when an RBI single gave the Dons a 5-3 lead. San Francisco’s offense didn’t stop there, however, as it strung together three consecutive hits with two outs in the eighth to make it 6-3.
Coleman lasted 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out five. Senior James Johnson relieved Coleman, pitching the next 1.2 innings before handing the ball over to sophomore Brian Ozols.
Uribes, who extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 games, led Pepperdine with three hits, while senior first baseman Nick Kliebert had a pair of doubles and d’Arnaud collected two hits.
In his eight innings of work, Cousins allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits, walked one and struck out six. Brian Anderson pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
“They have a solid pitching staff,” Tracy said. “We played well enough to win Friday, but to be honest, we haven’t swung the bats as well and consistently as we would like.”
The Waves’ offense would triumph over the Dons’ lineup the following day, however, as junior catcher Justin Tellam doubled home two runs in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie that helped Pepperdine record a 5-3 victory to even the series at a game apiece.
Also making waves in the game were freshman right fielder Denny Duron, who drove in a run with his first career hit, and sophomore starter Barry Enright, who struck out a career-high eight batters in seven innings.
Enright was up against Dons starter Aaron Poreda, who allowed five runs (four earned) on 13 hits in seven innings of work.
After allowing a first-inning run on an RBI double by designated hitter Tracy, Poreda held the Waves scoreless until the fourth inning when they scored twice to take a 3-1 lead.
The Dons tied the score in the top of the fourth on an RBI double, but Pepperdine regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Worth and Tellam opened the frame with consecutive singles, and D’Arnaud followed and reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing Tellam out at second base.
Duron followed with a double to drive in Worth as d’Arnaud advanced to third. Salas kept the runs coming when he hit a sacrifice fly to score D’Arnaud and give the Waves a 3-1 lead.
The score remained the same until the sixth inning when Cousins hit a two-run home run to tie it at 3-3. Pepperdine, however, came back to recapture the lead in the eighth as it strung together three straight hits to open the inning.
After Kliebert opened the inning with a single and Worth followed with a bunt single, the runners advanced to third and second on an error, bringing Tellam to the plate. Tellam hit a double that scored both runners, giving the Waves a 5-3 lead that would seal the victory.
In Enright’s seven innings of work, he allowed three runs on eight hits while not allowing a walk. Freshman Brett Hunter (4-2) relieved Enright in the eighth and pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory.
While Uribes extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games with three hits, Worth also had three hits for the Waves.
In the final game of the series, Uribes’ streak would come to an end as Pepperdine’s offense struggled against Don starter Patrick McGuigan, who tossed a complete-game six-hitter to lead San Francisco to a 2-0 series-clinching victory.
McGuigan did not walk a batter and struck out three Waves to move into second place on San Francisco’s all-time wins list with 18.
Freshman Bryce Stowell (1-1), who found out just minutes before game time that he would be taking the mound for the Waves, made his first start of his collegiate career.
San Francisco did all of its scoring in the third against Stowell, who was unable to escape the inning. Sophomore Jason Dominguez took over and combined with senior Bryan Minkel for 6.1 scoreless innings of relief.
While San Francisco collected 13 hits in the game, putting runners on base in seven of the nine innings, McGuigan faced just three batters over the minimum through the first seven innings before the Waves produced their only threat of the game in the eighth.
Junior pinch-hitter Michael Beattie and d’Arnaud hit back-to-back singles with two outs before Uribes hit into a force play to end the inning.
“We have faced a lot of those guys before, so there wasn’t anything unexpected,” Tracy said of the Dons’ pitching staff. “We hit a lot of balls hard on Sunday, just right at people.”
Tracy said that while San Francisco is a solid team, the Waves should have been able to come out with a series victory.
“They, like every other team in our conference, come out and play hard,” he said. “They caught some breaks here and there, and we didn’t, but that’s the way baseball goes.
“We still feel it’s a team that is good, but one we should beat.”
He also said the Waves’ recent hitting struggles are definitely hard to deal with, especially since good contact with the ball has not been giving the team much positive results lately.
“It can be very frustrating for us, especially when we are in a bit of a funk, when there is a big situation and a guy hits the ball hard and someone catches it,” he said. “Baseball is baseball, though, and that’s why you have to capitalize on every opportunity you get, and if we do that more consistently, you’re still looking at a team that is very capable of running off a series of wins in a row.”
Teammate Salas agreed, also reiterating what many players have talked about improving all season, which is playing as a team.
“There is no doubt that we have the talent, so it’s frustrating just knowing that we should be winning,” Salas said. “It comes down to the fact that we are better than we are showing, and a little inconsistency on our part isn’t helping either.
“The key for us right now is to get everyone on board and be on the same page. We still have a lot of ball to play, and even though we have started conference play off a little rough, we are very capable of getting in our groove and making a strong run. We just need to put everything together.”
The Waves will get a chance to do that when they return to action Thursday at Santa Clara’s Schott Stadium to begin a three-game series against the Broncos at 7 p.m.
The series will also give Pepperdine the opportunity to climb its way back into the Top 25 rankings. Salas, however, said the team tries not to worry about that too much.
“We are an experienced club and I don’t see any reason why we can’t get back in the rankings,” he said. “But right now, our main concern is getting back on top in the WCC.”
04-13-2006