No. 10 Waves Fold Purple Aces in 15-5 Win
3/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Each side of the ball could claim its own MVP following this decisive victory. Redshirt junior Ryan Heroy (
“This is a coaches’ dream when everyone on the team plays this well,” head coach Steve Rodriguez said. “It’s good to see a day like today come together because you know you’re not going to see them often.”
Pepperdine, which had made a habit of waiting until the very last at-bat to win at home, had this contest wrapped up in the first after freshman Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) led off with a walk and proceeded to steal two bases without interruption.
A Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) RBI single would score Humphries from third, and in the very next at-bat, senior Nate Simon (Duvall, Wash./Redmond HS) slammed his fourth home run of the season to make it a 3-0 game.
The Waves produced their biggest scoring inning of 2009 with five in the second even though half of their six hits never left the infield.
After Matthew Frazee (
Diedrich followed Harris with another RBI single and then it was Simon’s turn to catch the defense off guard with his own bunt base hit. Heroy helped clear the basepaths with a two-run single to right.
“Our small game, while still rough, put us in a lot of good offensive situations,” Rodriguez said. “It can really help the overall offense when guys are able to execute their bunts.”
“We were on fire today,” added Heroy, who would go on to smack his second home run of the year in the fifth. “The team did real well executing their hits and I felt like everyone in the lineup contributed.”
When Heroy said everyone, he meant everyone as close to all 15 players reached base in some capacity whether it was by hit, walk, error or hit by pitch. The Waves’ first baseman was one of five players to record two or more hits and RBI, and was one of six to score at least two runs.
Pepperdine’s ability to score early and often through those first five innings gave Newman plenty of cushion to work with as he improved to 2-0 through three starts.
“The offense made my job easy, “ Newman said. “Those guys really took it to them by getting a lot of the barrel on pitches that could have gone either way. Hits like Heroy’s bomb are always helpful.”
Newman retired seven of the first nine batters he faced before giving up a single with one out in the third. He would surrender another single plus a walk in that inning, but escaped the bases-loaded jam by inducing a ground ball to short off the bat of
Newman again retired the Purple Aces in order through the fourth and fifth, but they strung together enough hits in the sixth to break his bid for a shutout and he left shortly afterwards having tossed 84 pitches.
“I felt pretty good today,” Newman said. “Coach (Sean Kenny) called a lot of good pitches that kept me in rhythm and the infielders we’re making a lot of great plays behind me.”
“Nate’s performance was great,” Rodriguez said. “Once again he did an amazing job of keeping the ball down and throwing strikes, which helped us get into the later stages of the game with a good lead.”
Pepperdine’s double-digit run advantage allowed Rodriguez to make wholesale changes to his lineup card for time this season. However, the hits kept coming as the new Waves plated two runs of their own in the eighth on a Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) double that scored R.W. Zeller (Milwaukie, Ore./Rex Putnam HS) and Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS).
Sophomore Keven Inman (
“I hope to give these guys as many chances as I can to allow them to show us what they can do, and it means a lot to me when they step in the box prepared to hit,” Rodriguez said. “I have to give a lot of credit to (Assistant coach) Hirt (Rick Hirtensteiner) for making sure they’re ready. They did a good job today, but they have to continue to take advantage of their opportunities.”
Zach Taylor started for
On offense, Trentt Copeland and Alex Acheson led UE with two hits each.
The Waves and Purple Aces conclude their four-game series Saturday with a 10 a.m. doubleheader. The first game is scheduled for seven inning while the second contest will be a nine-inning affair. Sophomore Scott Alexander (Windsor, Calif./Cardinal Newman HS) and freshman Aaron Gates (
Admission to this weekend’s series is free as part of Pepperdine’s Fan Appreciation Days.
Score by Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pepperdine (8-2) 3 5 1 2 2 0 0 2 x 15 16 1
Pitchers:
Pepperdine Waves - NEWMAN, Nathan; JESERNIG, Brad (7); INMAN, Keven (9).
Win - NEWMAN, Nathan (2-0) Loss - Taylor, Zach( 0-2) T - 3:01 A - 454
HR PEP - SIMON, Nate (4); HEROY, Ryan (2).
Weather: Sunny, 60
