Feb. 4, 2005

Box Score

Sophomore catcher Chad Tracy and senior designated hitter Ryan Beglin each clubbed two-run homers and senior third baseman Patrick Rooney hit a sole blast to power No. 29 Pepperdine to an 8-4 victory over UC Santa Barbara at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium Friday afternoon in both team's season opener.

Senior Kea Kometani worked five innings to earn the victory and junior left-hander Paul Coleman struck out a career-high seven batters in four hitless innings as the Waves won their fifth straight season-opener.

Pepperdine took a 4-0 lead in the third inning as the Waves sent eight batters to the plate against UC Santa Barbara starter Steve Morlock. Nick Kliebert and Rooney had back-to-back singles to open the inning. Freshman right fielder Jason Dominguez then moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt.

Freshman center fielder Adrian Ortiz followed with a single through the right side to score Kliebert with the game's first run. One out later, Tracy drove home a pair of runs with a double to left-center field to give Pepperdine a 3-0 lead.

Tracy scored the inning's final run on a bloop single to right field by senior first baseman Steve Kleen.

Pepperdine used the long ball to score its next four runs as Rooney and Tracy hit solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, and Beglin hit a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Waves an 8-0 lead.

The Gauchos finally broke through against Kometani in the fifth, scoring four runs. The final two runs came around to score on a sun-aided double to right field from Matt Wilkerson.

In his five innings of work, Kometani surrendered seven hits, four runs, walked two and struck out four. Coleman followed and, allowed just two of 11 batters faced to reach base.

Tracy finished with two and three RBI while Kliebert, Ortiz and Rooney had a pair of hits.

Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara continue their three-game series on Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu.