May 23, 2010

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine lost the rubber match of its three-game series against San Diego in frustrating fashion Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium, with the Toreros eking out a 5-4 victory.

San Diego has now won its last four series vs. Pepperdine and improved to 33-18 on the season and 17-1 against the West Coast Conference. The Waves, who won the first game of this series 6-0, dropped to 21-29 overall and 9-9 vs. the league.

The Toreros scored their game-winning run with one out in the ninth when Chris Engell singled home Zach Walters with a chop shot up the middle off reliever Keven Inman (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces HS). Engell finished the game 4-of-5 and 10-of-13 in the series with a double and four RBI, but his game-winning hit certainly was not the Waves' lone point of aggravation.

For starters, Pepperdine left 11 runners on base. Plus its defense committed a costly error that opened the door to a pair of unearned runs in the seventh, and the game-winning score reached via a leadoff walk issued by Ricky Villarreal (Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS) to start the ninth.

To rub salt in the wound, USD made a pair of sterling defensive plays that robbed Pepperdine of two potentially big innings.

The first diamond gem took place in the seventh with the Waves trailing 4-3. There were two on, no outs and senior Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) was at the plate, looking to put down a sacrifice.

Rooney bunted the ball toward the left side of the mound, where it was scooped cleanly and wheeled back to third in one motion by Engell over to Walters for the first out. So instead of having two runners in scoring position, the Waves were still locked at first and second when Ryan Heroy's (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) followed up with what could have been a sac fly to center field.

Instead it went down in the books as a fly out, and the next batter fouled out to first.

The Waves eventually scored their tying run the following inning in the most unusual ways - a balk called on reliever Matt Hauser as he was about to intentionally walk sophomore Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills).

Designated hitter Cody Yount (Paradise Valley, Calif./Chaparral HS) led off the eighth with a single, but was replaced by pinch runner Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) who reached second via sac bunt and third on a stolen base.

Kain's theft was his third of the year and made it safely thanks to a wide throw by catcher Zach Kometani, who may have been equally to blame on the balk since he was spotted outside the catcher's box before the ball left Hauser's hand.

Unfortunately, that would be the last break the Waves received on offense. Because in the ninth inning with the game-tying run at first base, Heroy hammered a shot to the left-center gap only to be robbed of extra bases at the last second by a sliding Kalei Hanawahine, who has just entered the game as a pinch hitter the previous frame.

Freshman Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) followed Heroy to the plate with a shot down the first-base line only to have it called foul by a mere inch, and then was called out on a check swing.

Although the Waves couldn't push across the game-winning run, they twice came back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-3, and at one point led, 3-2.

It looked like it was going to be a long day for senior starter Robert Dickmann (Woodland Hills, Calif./Notre Dame HS) as he gave up two first-inning runs on three hits before settling down and holding the Toreros scoreless over the next five frames.

But his team got one of those runs back in the first on sophomore Nate Johnson's (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) double play ball that plated Humphries, and in the third, Heroy doubled home Johnson to knot the game at 2-2.

Sophomore Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) gave the Waves a 3-2 lead in the fourth with an RBI double that scored Yount from second base. Pepperdine doubled four times Sunday and has now recorded at least one two-bagger over its last 12 games to bring its season total to 99.

The Waves maintained their one-run advantage until the seventh when an uncharacteristic two-out error by Rooney at the hot corner kept the inning alive for the Toreros. USD's speedy leadoff man Kevin Muno smoked a laser that glanced off the senior's glove or leg and led to an extra base since Rooney had to chase it over the left-field line.

Engell followed with a chopper to the right side that Heroy reached in time, but his throw to Dickmann at first was late and USD had tied the game at 3-3.

Engell scored two hits later on Tony Strazzara's RBI single to center.

Overall, Dickmann allowed four runs - two earned - on eight hits and three walks, while striking out six.

Dickmann also induced two double plays in the second and fourth innings, and in the ninth, Humphries turned an 8-6 twin killing after catching a line drive off the bat of Strazzara and doubling up Engell at second base.

Pepperdine returns to action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Blair Field for the third game of its season series vs. Long Beach State, which is tied at 1-1.

San Diego 5, Pepperdine 4 (May 23, 2010 at Malibu, Calif.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- San Diego........... 200 000 201 - 5 9 2 (33-18, 17-1 WCC) Pepperdine.......... 101 100 010 - 4 9 2 (21-29, 9-9 WCC) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: San Diego - GRIFFIN, AJ; JENSEN, Chris(7); HAUSER, Matt(8) and KOMETANI, Zack. Pepperdine - Dickmann, Robert; VILLARREAL, Ricky(8); INMAN, Keven(9) and Johnson, Nate. Win-HAUSER, Matt(4-2) Loss-VILLARREAL, Ricky(1-1) T-3:14 A-319 Weather: 64, Mostly Sunny