Waves Start WCC Season at San Diego
3/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
FRIDAY’S GAME: Is the first of a three-game series vs. San Diego in the conference opener for both schools ... Since 1968, the Waves are 714-333-2 (.682) in conference play and are 31-10 (.756) in conference openers ... Pepperdine has opened its WCC season with San Diego five previous seasons: 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1999 ... The Waves last opened their WCC season at San Diego in 1991 and won two of three games.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Fri. vs. San Diego: Nathan Newman, rhp (3-1, 1.35) vs. Kyle Blair, rhp (1-1, 2.50) 3 p.m.
Sat. vs. San Diego: Cole Cook, rhp (4-0, 2.37) vs. TBA 1 p.m.
Sun. vs. San Diego: Aaron Gates, lhp (2-1, 1.90) vs. TBA 1 p.m.
WAVES VS. TOREROS: Pepperdine is 117-60 all-time vs. San Diego ... 64-36 at USD’s Cunningham Stadium or neutral sites ... 53-24 at Eddy D. Field Stadium ... Pepperdine is 11-5 vs. San Diego in opening conference weekend series ... The Waves lost four of five meetings with the Toreros in 2008, dropping both games of WCC Championship series and two of three at home during regular season ... Last series win vs. USD: 2006 [L, 1-6; W, 4-2; W, 5-4 (10)] ... Last series win at USD: 2003 [W, 6-0; W, 6-3; W, 12-1].
SEE THE BALL, HIT THE BALL: Catcher Trent Diedrich enters conference play with a 16-game hitting streak ... He has recorded at least one hit every game this season with the exception of Opening Day ... Diedrich’s streak is the sixth longest produced by a Wave over the last decade ... Tony Garcia had a 19g streak in 1999 ... Four players carried their streaks to 18 games, including, most recently Danny Worth in 2007 ... Worth is currently in Spring Training with the Detroit Tigers, battling Adam Everett for the starting job at shortstop.
TICKET INFORMATION AT SAN DIEGO: Reserved Adult Seats - $10 ... General Admission Adult - $5 ... Tickets will be available to the general public on the day of the game at the ticket office windows, located directly to the left of the Jenny Craig Pavilion entrance gates, 60 minutes prior to each game ... Cash and credit cards are accepted.
WAVES & TOREROS ON THE WEB: Baseball fans can catch all three of this series' games live on USDToreros.com ... The voice of the Toreros Jack Murray will bring fans all the live play-by-play action ... This service a free of charge for all who wish to watch the broadcast ... This weekend's games will not be streamed live on video, but there will be an audio feed for the games with Murray calling all the action ... The games can also be followed live via Gametracker.
BONE MARROW DRIVE SUPPORTING ROBERT CORRALES: In honor of one of its baseball alums L.A. County Sheriff Robert Corrales, the Pepperdine Athletics Department is establishing four bone marrow donor drive dates throughout the spring and is currently accepting volunteers to assist ... Representatives from the National Marrow Donor Program will begin collecting marrow registries at both Firestone Fieldhouse (Room 125) and Eddy D. Field Stadium on April 15, 17 and 18 ... For more information on the event or to volunteer please contact Heather Collart with Pepperdine Athletics at (310) 506-6483 ... Corrales was an infielder for the Waves in 1975 and hit .311 with two home runs and 19 RBI for a team that finished 37-13 and 14-2 in the WCAC ... Corrales was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2008 and is currently in search of a bone marrow donor.
AMONG THE WCC LEADERS: Conference stats do not include midweek games vs. Brown & UCLA ... As a team, Pepperdine ranks 1st in pitching with a 2.57 ERA and defense with a .985 FLD%, and are 6th in hitting with a .293 batting average ... Nathan Newman, Aaron Gates and Cole Cook rank 1st, 3rd and 6th, respectively, with their ERAs of 1.35, 1.90 and 2.37 ... Cook also ranks 2nd with 4 wins and is 8th with 33 K ... Newman is 6th with 36K ... Nick Gaudi is No. 1 with 5 SV ... Additionally, 5 of the top 10 lowest opp. batting averages belong to the Waves: (Cook, .175; Newman, .175; Bywater, .198; Alexander, .205; Gates, .210) ... Nate Simon is T6th with 4 HRs and is 5th with a .578 SLG% ... Brian Humphries is T9th with 19 RBI ... Bryce Mendonca is T3rd with 9 SB ... David Harris ranks 5th with 15 BB.
GAUDI ON WATCH LIST: Gaudi’s name also is on the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association’s Preseason Stopper of the Year watch list for the second consecutive season ... Gaudi is one of 40 players named to the list ... Gaudi saved a WCC-best 15 games last season en route to a 5-1 record and a 2.68 ERA ... He is 1-1 this season with five saves, a 1.64 ERA and 17K.
GAUDI UP FOR LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Nick Gaudi was announced last week as one of 30 baseball candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award ... To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition ... These 30 student-athletes will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot ... The award winner will be announced at Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium during the 2009 College World Series.
THE HEAD COACH: Steve Rodriguez is in his sixth season as the head coach of Pepperdine Baseball and owns an all-time record of 202-127 (.614) ... Has guided his clubs to three West Coast Conference titles and five NCAA Regional appearances ... Served as an assistant coach under Frank Sanchez from 2000 to 2003 ... Played second base for Pepperdine’s 1992 national championship team.
WAVES AT EDDY D. FIELD STADIUM (11-4, .733): Finished 5-3 on eight-game homestand ... Swept two-game series vs. Washington State ... Beat Chicago State in 3 of 4 ... Lost to Brown, 20-8, which was the program’s worst loss since 2002, and again to UCLA, 7-2 ... The Waves are in the midst of their 37th season of playing baseball at Eddy D. Field Stadium, where they own an all-time record of 785-296-12 (.724), including a 23-5 (.821) mark in 2008 ... Have not experienced a losing season at home since their first year at Malibu in 1973 ... Pepperdine has won 23 or more games at home five times in the last nine years.
WAVES ON THE ROAD (5-4, .556): Lost their first weekend series of the year at Wichita State, dropping two of the three games by two runs or less ... Came back to win g2 (3/14) of series with five runs in the 9th inning ... As a team, Pepperdine is hitting .274 away from Eddy D. Field Stadium with 5 HR and 46 runs scored ... The Waves’ pitching staff has posted a 2.74 ERA with 76K and a .204 opp. BA ... Wave stumbled slightly on the road in 2008, finishing with a 15-16 (.484) record that also includes neutral site games ... Have not posted a winning road record since 2006 (19-10, .655) and claim just four winning seasons on the road this decade ... Since 1973, the Waves’ first season on the Malibu Campus, Pepperdine’s road record is a respectable 573-449-5 (.560).
WAVES IN THE RANKINGS: Rivals.com (12), PING! Baseball (20), Baseball America (17), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (17), Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (27), College Baseball Insider (21), ESPN/USA Today (21).
WAVES IN THE STANDINGS: The Waves begin West Coast Conference play on 3/27 at San Diego ... Finished second last year to the Toreros after being swept on the road at the WCC Championship Series ... Since finishing fifth in the WCC in 1983, the Waves have finished first 14 times, second place 10 times and third just once (2007).
THE ROONEY FUND: A fund for Patrick Rooney’s children has recently been established through the assistance of Wells Fargo Bank ... Please visit any Southern California Wells Fargo location for more information on how to contribute or send donations to: Children of Patrick Rooney Fund, c/o Erynn Rooney, Wells Fargo Bank, 20375 East Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda, CA 92886 ... Rooney, a former Pepperdine infielder and brother of current Wave, Colin, died in a January plane crash outside Steamboat Springs, Colo.
GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD: For the first time ever, fan voting will be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2009 ... Fans will be able to vote for their favorite player starting May 26 after USA Baseball officials cut the watch list of players to 30 semifinalists ... USA Baseball officials will unveil the 2009 Golden Spikes Award Watch List on Feb. 17 ... The Golden Spikes Award will be presented to the top amateur player in the country on July 15 in St. Louis as part of the MLB All-Star Game festivities ... For more info, please log onto www.goldenspikesaward.com.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine’s teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
