UNLV Defeats No. 11 Pepperdine 6-3 Saturday Afternoon
2/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 4, 2006
Box Score
Malibu, Calif. - Freshman third baseman Xavier Scruggs highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a two-run home run and junior left-hander Chris Saddoris pitched six effective innings to lead UNLV to a 6-3 victory over No. 11 Pepperdine Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium and even the series at a game each.
The Waves (1-1) took a 2-0 lead on a run-scoring single by junior designated hitter Michael Beattie in the second inning and an RBI double by senior left fielder Brandon Daguio in the fourth before the Rebels (1-1) broke through against Pepperdine sophomore right hander Barry Enright in the fifth inning.
UNLV's rally began when Enright hit right fielder Ryan Bird to open the inning. Second baseman CJ Lang then hit a potential double play ball to Waves' shortstop Danny Worth that was booted for an error and put runners at first and second with no outs.
With catcher Braden Walker at the plate, Enright picked Bird off second base as the Rebels' right fielder was caught in a rundown and tagged out by third baseman Chase d'Arnaud as Lang moved up to second base on the play.
Walker then hit a double down the left field line that scored Lang and cut Pepperdine's lead to 2-1. Scruggs followed with his second home run of the series over the left field fence that put the Rebels on top 3-2.
After Zach Borba grounded out for the second out of the inning, center fielder Ryan Kowalski and Mike Cruz followed with back-to-back singles that ended Enright's day.
Junior Robert Della Grotta relieved Enright and after getting ahead in the count to first baseman Chris Bonnell, unleashed a wild pitch allowing both runners to move up to second and third base. Bonnell ended the at-bat with a line drive to left field that scored Kowalski and Cruz, giving UNLV a 5-2 lead.
Pepperdine got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the fifth after Worth reached base on a two-out error and scored on a triple to left-center by sophomore right fielder Donald Brown.
UNLV's final run came in the sixth inning on a home run by Bird.
The game proved to be another frustrating day for the Waves as they stranded 11 runners on base and had at least one runner reach safely in every inning, including the ninth when they put two runners on with one out and were unable to advance them.
The 11 stranded runners came on the heels of 10 runners left on base in Friday's opener.
Senior Matt Wagner pitched the ninth inning to earn his first save of the season.
The Waves received 2.2 hitless innings of relief from sophomore right hander Brian Ozols who did not walk a batter and recorded one strikeout.
Pepperdine and UNLV conclude their three-game series with a 1 p.m. contest Sunday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
