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MALIBU, Calif. - Portland scored seven runs between the seventh and eighth innings, turning a pitcher's duel into a blowout in its eventual 8-4 win over Pepperdine Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
The win raised the Pilots' records to 26-9 overall and 10-1 in the West Coast Conference, while the Waves dropped to 13-21 and 3-4. Pepperdine will try and salvage game three of their series Sunday at 1 p.m.
Waves' starter Cole Cook (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades Charter) pitched tremendously through the first six innings, giving up only one run on a wild pitch while matching his season high with nine strikeouts. And on the other side, Portland's starter Kyle Krause was pitching a gem of his own complete with five strikeouts, and had surrendered just one run on four hits.
But everything Pepperdine had going for them as they tried to even the series at a game apiece came undone in the seventh, and even more so in the eighth.
Portland's No. 8 hitter Matt Mardesich broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh by leading off with the first home run hit against Cook all season. Then, after Nick Armenta singled to left he advanced to second on an errant throw by Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) who threw the ball behind the runner after he rounded first.
Kevin Armijo singled through the right side two batters later and C.J. Cullen followed with a fielder's choice RBI after Cook's throw to home plate was late in trying to catch Armenta. Catcher Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) still had a chance to catch the hustling Cullen down the first base line, but his throw was slightly off mark and allowed Armijo to move into scoring position for Beau Fraser's sacrifice fly to deep center that made it a 4-1 game.
In the eighth, Pepperdine cycled through three relievers who combined to give up an additional four runs on four walks and three hits. Freshman Daniel Patrick (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter HS) - the third of three relievers - struck out the final two batters of the eighth followed by a scoreless ninth inning of work.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the third on Van Amburg's RBI groundout, Pepperdine's offense was held in check over the next four innings as the Pilots kept increasing their lead.
The Waves though never stopped battling and scored once more in the eighth before recording four consecutive two-out singles in the ninth to cut the Portland lead in half at 8-4.
Pepperdine finally chased Kraus with two on and two outs in the ninth, but WCC save leader Chris Dennis sealed his 11th save of the year after getting senior Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) to pop one up on the infield.
Van Amburg led the Waves with two RBI, bringing his season total to 18, while sophomore Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) and freshman Zachary Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) each posted a team-high two hits.
Portland 8, Pepperdine 4 (Apr 24, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)
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Portland............ 000 100 340 - 8 12 1 (26-9, 10-1 WCC)
Pepperdine.......... 001 000 012 - 4 9 2 (13-21, 3-4 WCC)
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Pitchers: Portland - KRAUS, Kyle; DENNIS, Chris (9) and FRASER, Beau. Pepperdine - Cook, Cole; VILLARREAL, Ricky(8); GATES, Aaron(8); PATRICK, Daniel(8) and Johnson, Nate.
Win-KRAUS, Kyle(8-0) Save-DENNIS, Chris(11) Loss-COOK, Cole(2-5) T-2:57 A-209
HR POR - MARDESICH, Matt (5).
Weather: 66, Partly Cloudy
VILLARREAL faced 4 batters in the 8th.
GATES, A. faced 1 batter in the 8th.
