Nov. 14, 2010
Box Score
MALIBU, Calif. - Blue captured Pepperdine's 2010 Fall World Series Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium thanks to sophomore catcher Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) who drew a walk-off walk in game five and tagged out the potential game-tying run to end a one-inning tiebreaker.
Blue entered the final day of the series down 2-1 to Orange, but held on to win the fifth game, 4-3, before earning a 2-1 decision in the tiebreak that was only established after last Saturday's game one ended in a 5-5 stalemate.
Johnson led off the tiebreaker with a sacrifice bunt that advanced Tony Cooper (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS/Cañada College) and Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) into scoring position for Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) who promptly smacked a two-run single off Brian McIlhenny's (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy College Preparatory) 0-1 delivery.
In the bottom of the frame, Blue closer Ricky Villarreal (Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS) retired the first two Orange batters he faced on a strikeout and ground out, but Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS/Moorpark College) drilled his 1-0 offering into center field to score Matt Maurer (Medford, Ore./North Medford HS) from third.
Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS) attempted to knot the tiebreaker at 2-2, but center fielder Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) made a strong and accurate throw that Johnson held on during a bang-bang play at the plate.
Not only did Humphries' arm save Blue in the tiebreaker, but his bat in game five made sure his club reached that stage of the series. With two on and two out in the first inning, Humphries clubbed a double to right-center off starter Jon Moscot (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Palisades Charter HS/Cuesta College) and past a diving Kain in center field.
Blue later made it a 3-0 game in the second after Cooper drove in Bryan Langlois (Oak Park, Calif./Oak Park HS) with another two-out base knock.
Moscot lasted 7.0 innings (3 ER) and struck out four on 90 pitches.
Behind the efforts of its starter Scott Frazier (Upland, Calif./Upland HS), Blue was able to maintain a three-run lead until the seventh when the second of four errors brought home Orange's first run, and then Maurer tied the game in the eighth on a two-run bomb that followed a error by the left fielder.
All three of Blue's runs were unearned as Frazier finished the afternoon with five strikeouts through 6.0 innings of work and 86 pitches.
Reliever Cody Dickerson (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Woods HS) was on the mound when Orange mounted its late-inning comeback and was eventually replaced with two outs in the ninth by Villarreal who struck out Sam Meyer (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) with runners at first and second.
Meyer's backward K was the only out Villarreal needed to earn the victory since his Orange counterpart Jared Lee (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS/UNLV) walked three and hit another during the decisive ninth inning. Cody Yount (Paradise Valley, Calif./Chaparral HS) scored the game-winning run on Johnson's RBI base on balls.
Villarreal tossed only 16 pitches in winning both of Sunday's decisions and finished the five-game series with a flawless 0.00 ERA through 3.2 innings pitched.
Pepperdine Blue 4, Pepperdine Orange 3 (Nov 14, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pepperdine Orange... 000 000 120 - 3 9 0 (2-2-1)
Pepperdine Blue..... 210 000 001 - 4 7 4 (2-2-1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Pepperdine Orange - Moscot, Jon; LUVISI, Jordan(8); LEE, Jared(8) and Diedrich, Trent.
Pepperdine Blue - Frazier, Scott; DICKERSON, Cody(7); VILLARREAL, Ricky(9) and JOHNSON, Nathan
.
Win-VILLARREAL, Ricky (1-0) Loss-LEE, Jared (0-1) T-3:00 A-150
HR ORANGE - Maurer, Matt.
Weather: 75, Sunny
MOSCOT, J. faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Pepperdine Blue 2, Pepperdine Orange 1 (Nov 14, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pepperdine Blue..... 2 - 2 2 0 (3-2)
Pepperdine Orange... 1 - 1 1 0 (2-3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Pepperdine Blue - VILLARREAL, Ricky and JOHNSON, Nathan. Pepperdine Orange -
McIlhenny, Brian and DIEDRICH, Trent.
Win-VILLARREAL, Ricky (2-0) Loss-McILHENNY, Brian (0-1) T-:20 A-120
Weather: 75, Sunny
