Orange Takes Series Lead Following Game Four Shutout Victory
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 13, 2010
MALIBU, Calif.- Orange southpaws Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS) and Jordan Luvisi (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Preparatory (Ariz.) combined on a three-hit 4-0 shutout of Blue in game four of Pepperdine's annual fall intrasquad series Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
Orange leads the series 2-1-1 with the two sides taking to the diamond one last time Sunday at 1 p.m. Orange can clinch the series crown with a third straight victory tomorrow, but if they lose, then the international tie breaker rule will be implemented to decide the winner of game one's 5-5 tie.
Through 7.2 innings of work, Gates never allowed more than one base runner per inning with the exception of the third when he walked the first two men he faced. But after leadoff man Tony Cooper (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS/Cañada College) sacrificed both runners into scoring position, Gates got sophomore Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) to foul out to first and redshirt junior Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) on a ground ball to third.
Gates finished his outing on 90 pitches with five strikeouts and two walks.
Orange's pitchers received all the run support they needed in the first inning after scoring an unearned run off Blue starter Keven Inman (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces HS). With two outs, cleanup batter Sam Meyer (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) should have been retired on a routine ground ball to first, but Cody Yount (Paradise Valley, Calif./Chaparral HS) could not field it cleanly, leaving the door open for sophomore Zach Turner's (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS/Cañada College) RBI single to center.
Inman surrendered two more two-out runs in the fifth on Joe Sever's (San Jose, Calif./ Bellarmine College Preparatory) and Harrison Kain's (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS/Moorpark College) RBI hits. Sever ripped a double down the left-field line and Kain followed with a single to right.
In the eighth, Orange received one last insurance run on redshirt senior Trent Diedrich's (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) towering home run over the wall in left-center field.
Inman struck out four in an 8.0 inning effort, tossing 87 pitches.
Blue threatened to score on Luvisi with two on and two out in the ninth, but he got Yount to end the game on a fly out to center.
Pepperdine Orange 4, Pepperdine Blue 0 (Nov 13, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)
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Pepperdine Blue..... 000 000 000 - 0 3 2 (1-2-1)
Pepperdine Orange... 100 020 01X - 4 7 1 (2-1-1)
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Pitchers: Pepperdine Blue - Inman, Keven and JOHNSON, Nathan. Pepperdine Orange - GATES, Aaron;
LUVISI, Jordan(8) and DIEDRICH, Trent.
Win-GATES, Aaron(1-0) Save-LUVISI, Jordan(1) Loss-INMAN, Keven(1-1) T-2:02 A-111
HR ORANGE - DIEDRICH, Trent.
Weather: 76, Sunny
