May 28, 2010
Box Score
Pepperdine and San Francisco Box Score (May 28, 2010) 
MALIBU, Calif. - For as rough as the 2010 season has been for the Waves, their fans have seen more than their fair share of unique moments in recent weeks.
A triple play turned at Cal Poly. A run scored on a catcher's balk vs. San Diego, and three consecutive 9.0 inning starts at Saint Mary's are among the distinct rarities observed this season, but during Friday's 9-3 win over San Francisco, Pepperdine fans witnessed their first steal of home plate in more than four years.
Redshirt sophomore Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS), he of one career steal, was a master pickpocket in his approach and was the first Wave to accomplish this task since David Uribes did it against Fresno State in February of 2006.
Silverstein steadily crept his way down the third-base line and was two-thirds of the way home before reliever Alex Kalogrides even looked up to notice him. Subsequently, Kalogrides rushed his throw home and Silverstein slid easily under the tag of catcher Ryan Lipkin.
"We run this play in practice and I noticed that he (Kalogrides) wasn't even peeking over," Silverstein said. "I got his timing down after the first pitch, (assistant coach Rick Hirtensteiner) Hirt gave me the signal, and so I was off and running on his second pitch. There wasn't a whole lot of risk involved because we already had a good lead, but I wasn't going to go unless I knew I'd be safe."
Silverstein's score was part of a four-run eighth inning that sapped all the energy out of a Dons' rally that brought them within two runs at 5-3. The Waves' first three batters all reached base and then sophomore Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) brought home two with a one-out double to center field.
Sophomore Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) drew a two-out walk to load the bases a second time, keeping the inning moving for Silverstein's ensuing theft, and senior Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) capped the excitement with another RBI double that was one of seven on the day for Pepperdine.
"Offensively, it was nice to get on top early in this one and then score four more runs late in the game to kill off any of their momentum," Silverstein said.
The win improved Pepperdine's record to 22-30 and tied them with the Dons for third place in the WCC at 10-9. USF's overall mark now stands at 28-26.
Pepperdine jumped on San Francisco starter Doug Murray for five runs in between the second and third innings. Back-to-back extra-base hits by Silverstein and sophomore Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS), who tripled, drove in the game's first three runs, and then in the third, Johnson scored on Joe Sever's (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) RBI and Rooney trotted home on Cody Yount's (Paradise Valley, Calif./Chaparral HS) sacrifice fly.
Yount finished the game 2-for-3 and provided a clutch eighth-inning double that he ripped past a drawn-in infield after showing bunt on the first two pitches. Over his last six starts, Yount is batting .500 (7-for-14) with four RBI and four runs scored.
Murray rebounded quickly out of that rough patch to deliver four consecutive scoreless innings through the seventh, while his offense scored a pair in the sixth that made it a 5-2 game.
Pepperdine starter Matt Bywater (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) appeared to be on his way to another complete game shutout, but the Dons spoiled those plans with a couple of two-out runs.
After striking out Robert Able to begin the inning, Bywater walked WCC home run leader Stephen Yarrow on four pitches followed by a double, RBI ground ball and a run-scoring single. The Dons struck again two innings later, producing a run on two hits and a walk but wound up leaving runners at the corners against redshirt freshman Ricky Villarreal (Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS), who worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn his second save.
The game ended with substitute outfielder Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) throwing Abel out at third base after catching Ryan Lipkin's fly ball to center field. Kain leads all Waves with six outfield assists through 38 games played.
With the victory, Bywater improved to 6-5 and finished the season with a career-low ERA of 2.40. He also established career season highs with 83 strikeouts, 97.2 innings pitched, an NCAA best four shutouts and five complete games.
But for all the individual success he's experienced, the junior said he'd trade it all for a trip to the postseason.
"It feels good to be above .500, and while I can't be mad with my results I know I could've pitched a lot better," Bywater said. "I didn't have my best stuff today either, but felt I kept us in the game and USF off the base paths. I hope we can get them again tomorrow."
Bywater finished the game with seven strikeouts.
Pepperdine returns to action Saturday for game two of its three-game series against San Francisco. First pitch from redshirt sophomore starter Cole Cook (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades Charter HS) is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Pepperdine 9, San Francisco 3 (May 28, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.)----------------------------------------------------------------------San Francisco....... 000 002 010 - 3 9 0 (28-26, 10-9 WCC)Pepperdine.......... 032 000 04X - 9 13 1 (22-30, 10-9 WCC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: San Francisco - MURRAY, Doug; LUIPPOLD, Garrett(8); CHAVEZ, Matt(8);KALOGRIDES, Alex(8); LOVE, Cameron(8) and LIPKIN, Ryan. Pepperdine - Bywater, Matt;VILLARREAL, Ricky(8) and Johnson, Nate.Win-BYWATER, Matt(6-5) Save-VILLARREAL, Ricky(2) Loss-MURRAY, Doug(8-6) T-2:58 A-330Weather: 68, Mostly SunnyMURRAY faced 1 batter in the 8th.LUIPPOLD faced 2 batters in the 8th.
