Pepperdine and Portland Box Score (April 25, 2010) 
MALIBU, Calif. - Portland broke a 2-2 tie with an unearned run in the seventh and scored twice more in ninth to complete a three-game series sweep of Pepperdine Sunday afternoon in front of 528 fans at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
Today's home crowd - the second largest of the season - included a handful of celebrities, including "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky, former Dodger All-Star first baseman Steve Garvey and actress Pamela Anderson, who tossed out the ceremonial first pitch.
The loss sent Pepperdine's record to 13-22 and 3-5 in the West Coast Conference, while the Pilots maintained their hold on first place, improving to 27-9 and 11-1.
Portland jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth. C.J. Cullen brought in the game's first run on a sacrifice fly to center, and in the fourth, Pilots' No. 9 batter Nick Amenta blasted his first home run of 2010 - a solo shot over the wall in left field.
Pepperdine tied the game at 2-2 with a pair of unearned runs in the fifth. With one out and runners at first and third, freshman Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) grounded into what could have been an inning-ending double play, but redshirt sophomore Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) was running on the pitch and beat the throw into second base.
Sever was thrown out on the relay to first, but senior Ryan Heroy (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) scampered home and cut Portland's lead in half. Silverstein tied the game on the next play after second baseman Riley Henricks threw wide of first on a routine grounder.
The game remained tied until the top of the seventh when an errant throw by senior starting pitcher Robert Dickmann (Woodland Hills, Calif./Notre Dame HS) allowed the eventual game-winning run to score.
With a runner at second base, Dickmann fielded a bunt by Armenta and threw it past Sever and down the right field line. Dickmann would later throw out Armenta at third on another Pilot sacrifice and escaped the inning with a double play.
Portland kept up its small-ball antics in the ninth and chased Dickmann from the game after leadoff batter Kyle Haskin reached safely on a high chopper bunted up the first-base line. Junior reliever Keven Inman (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces HS) then came into the game and allowed back-to-back singles followed by another sacrifice fly that pushed the Pilot lead to three.
Pepperdine's offense put runners on base against all three of Portland's relievers but could not produce any run-scoring hits. In the ninth, with two on and two out Pilot closer Chris Dennis picked up his 12th save of the year and third of the series after striking out right fielder Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) to end the game.
Pepperdine left nine men left on base altogether, including five over the final three innings.
Dickmann struck out a career-high nine batters through eight innings in falling to 6-3 on the season, while Portland starter Owen Jones improved to 3-1. Jones also picked up nine strikeouts.
The Waves have this entire week off to prepare and take their final exams, and will return to action Tuesday, May 4 for the start of a short two-game midweek series vs. UCLA and Long Beach State. Both games will begin at 3 p.m.
Portland 5, Pepperdine 2 (Apr 25, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Portland............ 001 100 102 - 5 10 3 (27-9, 11-1 WCC)
Pepperdine.......... 000 020 000 - 2 5 1 (13-22, 3-5 WCC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Portland - JONES, Owen; JOHNSON, Chris(7); WAKEFIELD, Ed(8); DENNIS, Chris(9) and GALE, Rocky. Pepperdine - Dickmann, Robert; INMAN, Keven(9) and Johnson, Nate.
Win-JONES, Owen(3-1) Save-DENNIS, Chris(12) Loss-DICKMANN, Robert(6-3) T-2:51 A-528
HR POR - ARMENTA, Nick (1).
Weather: 71, Sunny
DICKMANN, R. faced 1 batter in the 9th.
