Feb. 18, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and Eastern Kentucky Box Score (Feb. 18, 2011) 
MALIBU, Calif. - Chris Amezquita produced six runs, Scott Frazier pitched 5.0 innings of one-run ball and the Waves picked up their 10th Opening Day win in 11 years following a 9-2 victory over Eastern Kentucky on a cold and rainy Friday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
Amezquita (La Mirada, Calif./Servite HS), a UCLA transfer who sat out all of last season, drove in the game's first run in the third on a double to left center and then scored three batters later when Colonel starter Anthony Bazzani bobbled a bunt tapped back toward the mound.
Pepperdine broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning, in which Amezquita smashed another double to left, scoring two more, and touched home for the second of his three runs. Redshirt freshman Sam Meyer (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) also drove in two with a single through the left side that chased Bazzani from the game.
The Waves tacked single runs on the EKU bullpen in the fifth and eighth innings. Amezquita led off the fifth with a walk and came home on Zach Vincej's (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) single to right, and in the eighth, Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS) reached the dish on a wild pitch.
Backed by an early 7-0 lead, Frazier (Upland, Calif./Upland HS) remained relaxed on the mound and faced only 13 batters through the first 4.0 innings. He also received assistance from senior catcher Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS), who in his first start since April of 2009, gunned down two opposing base stealers at second.
Frazier eventually ran into trouble in the fifth as three of the first four Colonels all singled before a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by second baseman Matt Phipps brought in their first run. However, with EKU continuing to threaten with runners at second and third and two outs, the 6-foot-7 inch Frazier snared a line drive off the bat of Bryce Labhart to retire the side.
Frazier scattered four hits over 5.0 innings of work with three strikeouts and no walks. He tossed 78 pitches, 47 of which were strikes.
Sophomore Alex Najera (Anaheim Hills, Calif./Canyon HS) and freshman Eric Karch (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) combined to pitch the final four innings in relief. After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, Najera surrendered a run in the eighth after Richie Rodriguez scored on a ground ball. Rodriguez had led off the inning with a line-drive leadoff triple over the head of Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) who slipped on the wet grass while charging in to make the catch.
After Karch allowed the first two Colonels to reach base in the ninth, he came back to strike out Phipps, popped up Labhart, and then got designated hitter A.J. Jamison to end the game on a grounder to third. Overall, 14 of the Waves 27 putouts came via ground balls.
Game two of this weekend's three-game series between the Waves and Colonels is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
Pepperdine 9, Eastern Kentucky 2 (Feb 18, 2011 at Malibu, Calif.)----------------------------------------------------------------------Eastern Kentucky.... 000 010 010 - 2 9 3 (0-1)Pepperdine.......... 002 510 01X - 9 8 1 (1-0)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Eastern Kentucky - BAZZANI, Anthony; COBB, Brent(4); SMITH, Macon(4);BOTTOMS, Blake(8); REXROAT, Austin(8) and HAGEN, Sean. Pepperdine - Frazier, Scott;NAJERA, Alex(6); KARCH, ERIC(9) and Diedrich, Trent; Johnson, Nate.Win-FRAZIER, Scott(1-0) Loss-BAZZANI, Anthony(0-1) T-2:54 A-244Weather: 59, CloudyCobb faced 2 batters in the 4th.
