Baseball's Blue And Orange World Series Begins Saturday
11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 5, 2010
MALIBU, Calif.- It's shaping up to be another nice Southern California weekend. The skies are blue. The sun is warm. The grass is green. And it's November - the perfect time of year to play some baseball.
So while the East Coast shivers and the Midwest sees the season's first snow, the Pepperdine baseball program will be engaged in games one and two of its annual Blue and Orange World Series this Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
Redshirt senior Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) and junior Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) will captain this year's Orange squad, while heading the Blue team will be junior Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) and senior Keven Inman (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces HS).
Diedrich and Johnson will both catch some for their respective clubs. Gates will start game one against highly touted freshman recruit Scott Frazier (Upland, Calif./Upland HS), and in game two Inman will face off against sophomore transfer and right hander Jon Moscot (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Palisades Charter HS/Cuesta College).
All four weekend starters have put together impressive falls. Neither Gates nor Inman has surrendered an earned run through a combined eight appearances, totaling 30 innings. Frazier is tied for second on the club with sophomore transfer Jared Lee (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS/UNLV) with 12 strikeouts and Moscot ranks sixth with eight Ks and a 2.81 ERA.
Lee, who owns a 1.29 ERA with 12 punch outs this fall, is Wednesday's projected game three starter for Orange but could see some time working in relief this weekend as could Blue's sophomore Alex Najera (Anaheim Hills, Calif./Canyon HS). Pepperdine coaches are limiting all their starters to approximately 80 pitches.
Najera is another Pepperdine hurler who's looked good on the mound this autumn, posting a 2.57 ERA with 11Ks and a .224 opponents' batting average.
Leading the Waves' offense during these offseason intrasquads has been sophomore Sam Meyer (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) who is a candidate to replace graduate Ryan Heroy at first base. In 34 trips to the plate, Meyer has produced a team-best .355 batting average (11-for-31) with two extra-base hits and four RBI.
Also hitting well above .300 have been Johnson at .333, sophomore infielder Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) at .324, rookie two-way player Matt Maurer (Medford, Ore./North Medford HS) at .318 and junior Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS) at .312.
In addition to belting three doubles among his seven base hits this fall, Maurer also has tossed 11.0 innings with seven strikeouts and a 1.64 ERA.
The team's RBI leaders include Meyer (4) along with Cañada College transfers Zach Turner (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS/Cañada College) and Tony Cooper (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS/Cañada College), who each have five, as well as Chris Amezquita (La Mirada, Calif./Servite HS/UCLA and Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS), who both have driven in four.
Pepperdine returns seven position players from last year's squad that finished 24-30 overall and third in the West Coast Conference at 12-9. The Waves' returning corps of veterans includes 2010 WCC honorees Johnson, Vincej, Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS), Floyd Given (Rohnert Park, Calif./Rancho Cotate HS/Sacramento City College), and Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory); but they lost all three weekend starters (Matt Bywater, Cole Cook and Robert Dickmann) to last June's MLB Draft in addition to corner infielders Colin Rooney and Heroy.
Even though the Waves' have a challenge in replacing three arms that accumulated 301.1 innings pitched and registered 13 complete games, the coaching staff is confident its acquired much more pitching depth led by draftee Frazier, junior college standout Moscot and likely relief ace Eric Karch (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) who was a all-state first team selection and helped guide his school to a No. 1 national ranking.
Maurer's contributions on the hill also can't be overlooked. Last season, Oregon's Gatorade Player of the Year went 9-1 with 99 Ks and a 0.78 ERA.
Strong offensive additions include .400-hitting Junior College All-Americans Cooper and Turner and three-time All-Tri Valley honoree and outfielder Bryan Langlois (Oak Park, Calif./Oak Park HS) who batted .500 as a senior this past spring with 11 home runs.
Admission is free to all five games. According to weather.com Saturday's high temperature in Malibu will reach 75 and Sunday's will be 66.
Blue and Orange World Series Schedule
Game 1: Saturday, Nov. 6 - 1 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, Nov. 7 - 1 p.m.
Game 3: Wednesday, Nov. 10 - 1 p.m.
Game 4: Saturday, Nov. 13 - 1 p.m.
Game 5: Sunday, Nov. 14 - 1 p.m.
