Pepperdine and Santa Clara Box Score (May 6, 2010)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Pepperdine's baseball team dropped the final game of its series with Santa Clara Thursday afternoon at Schott Stadium, falling 16-7 to a Bronco club that collected more runs than it did hits (12) thanks to the 13 free passes offered by the Waves' pitching staff.

The loss dropped Pepperdine's record to 14-24 and 3-6 vs. the West Coast Conference, while Santa Clara improved to 20-24 and 5-10. Today's game was originally scheduled for April 11 but was twice postponed due to inclement weather.

Pepperdine's 13 bases on balls tied a team game record that was originally set twice during the 2006 season, first against Oregon State and again vs. UC Santa Barbara. The walks, combined with a wild pitch and a passed ball, played a significant role in keeping the Broncos always a few runs ahead of the Waves in the game's early stages before their eight-run outburst put the contest away for good in the eighth.

Senior third baseman Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) led the Waves at the plate with three hits and three RBI, and it was his two-run single in the first that gave Pepperdine its first and only lead at 2-0.

The Broncos came right back to tie the game with two runs in the bottom half of their inning. Matt Ozanne led off with a walk, stole second and scored a few pitches later when Evan Peters singled to center. Tommy Medica, who finished a single short of the cycle as part of a 3-for-5 game, followed with a double, and then Peters tied the score on Geoff Klein's ground out.

Santa Clara kept lighting its end of the scoreboard with an unearned run in the second and a pair of two spots in the third and fourth innings. All the runs were charged to sophomore starter Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) who fell to 2-7 after giving up seven runs on five hits and seven walks.

The Waves, however, would not retreat on offense as it kept climbing back into the game with runs in the third and fourth, followed by two in the fifth that cut Santa Clara's lead to 7-6. Senior Ryan Heroy (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) drove in both fifth-inning runs on a bases-loaded single to left.

Pepperdine scored once more in the ninth on freshman Joe Sever's (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) RBI single that plated sophomore Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS), but the Broncos unfortunately were already up by ten runs.

Santa Clara sent 12 men to the plate during its big eighth inning and at one point had pounded out four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run off the bat of Medica, which was his 11th of the year.

The Waves look to rebound immediately from this defeat by starting a three-game series at Saint Mary's beginning Friday at 3 p.m. at Louis Guisto Field. Pepperdine is 119-24 all-time vs. Saint Mary's and has not lost a series to the Gaels since 1992.

Santa Clara 16, Pepperdine 7 (May 06, 2010 at Santa Clara, Calif.)
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Pepperdine.......... 201 120 001 - 7 11 3 (14-24, 3-6 WCC)
Santa Clara......... 212 201 08X - 16 12 2 (20-24, 5-10 WCC)
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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Gates, Aaron; NAJERA, Alex(5); PATRICK, Daniel(7); McILHENNY, Brian(8)
and Johnson, Nate. Santa Clara - Simon, B; Westerberg(4); Hall, C(5); Mendoza, C(8);
Twining, P(9) and Klein, G.
Win-Hall, C(2-0) Loss-GATES, Aaron(2-7) T-4:00 A-158
HR SCU - Medica, T (11).
Weather: 69 degrees, clear, W13 mph
NAJERA, A. faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Hall, C faced 1 batter in the 8th.