April 19, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara Box Score (April 19. 2011) 
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Santa Barbara senior Mark Haddow's 15th inning solo home run provided the Gauchos' with a dramatic 3-2 walkoff victory over Pepperdine Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyeska Stadium. The 15-inning marathon marked the longest home game in UCSB history and Pepperdine's longest since a 2002 loss at Portland.
Haddow's round-tripper off reliever Eric Karch (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) was his fourth of the year and ended the game two minutes shy of four hours. He also contributed three singles in finishing the game 4-for-6 as his Gauchos improved to 15-16 on the season.
Pepperdine dropped to 16-19 with the loss.
If Haddow had not homered, it's likely the game would have been halted due to darkness or ended in a 2-2 tie. The Waves' last recorded tie game was vs. Santa Clara in 1995, when Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference behind a 23-3-1 record.
Karch (4-3) pitched incredibly well over 3.1 innings considering he pitched twice vs. San Diego and as recently as Sunday. The freshman struck out four batters, including the first two he faced in the 12th, plus another to get out of a two-on, two-out jam in the 13th. Karch started the 15th inning with two quick outs against Sean Williams and Joe Wallace, but Haddow was not fooled by his first pitch and drove the ball more than 400 feet into the deepest part of the ball park.
Brian McIlhenny (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy College Preparatory) also pitched effectively in relief as he allowed no hits with two strikeouts through 3.1 innings of work.
Sophomore Alex Najera (Anaheim Hills, Calif./Canyon HS) started and delivered the best outing of his collegiate career, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with two strikeouts. The sophomore put several runners on base (six hits, three walks), but continually kept the ball low and let his defense make the plays behind him.
Najera induced 11 ground ball outs, including a 6-4-3 GDP to end the seventh, and in the second, he was aided by a great diving catch by right fielder Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) who was able to pop up and catch the runner heading back into first base.
The only thing Najera lacked was more run support. The Waves left 12 runners on base, five while he was on the mound, and seven more past the ninth inning. Twice Pepperdine left the bases loaded in the fifth and 11th, and it stranded two runners in scoring position between the 13th and 14th.
The UCSB bullpen benefitted from the lack of clutch hits, totaling 10.2 innings of scoreless work with six strikeouts. Winner Nick Capito (3-2) pitched the final 4.1 frames, in which he surrendered three singles.
Pepperdine scored both its runs off starter Zak Edgington. Kain led off the game with a two-base error by the Gaucho second baseman Sean Williams, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then came around on Miles Silverstein's (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) sacrifice fly to center.
Silverstein brought home the Waves' second and final run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk issued by Matthew Brady, who was the first of seven relievers employed by UCSB. Edgington started the inning by giving up consecutive one-out hits followed by a walk to Kain, which loaded the bags for Silverstein.
Pepperdine held onto its 2-0 lead until the eighth. Leadoff man Ben Edelstein tripled into the right-field corner off freshman reliever Corey Miller (Laguna Niguel, Calif./JSerra Catholic HS) and scored easily on Williams' follow-up double down the left-field line.
Williams advanced to third on Haddow's fly ball to center and tied the game at 2-2, coming home on Ryan Palermo's two-out RBI single.
Pepperdine returns to action Thursday for the start of a three-game conference series against archrival Loyola Marymount. First pitch is 3 p.m.
Santa Barbara 3, Pepperdine 2 (Apr 19, 2011 at Santa Barbara, Calif)
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Pepperdine.......... 100 010 000 000 000 - 2 9 3 (16-19)
Santa Barbara....... 000 000 020 000 001 - 3 12 2 (15-16)
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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Najera, Alex; MILLER, Cory(8); McILHENNY, Brian(9); KARCH, Eric(12) and
Diedrich, Trent. Santa Barbara - Edgington, Zak; Brady, Matthew(5); Cuneo, Cameron(5);
Loredo, Nick(6); Fick, Brett(8); Uhrig, Bryce(9); Whalen, Connor(11); Capito, Nick(11) and
Camou, Dan; Winterburn, Joe.
Win-Capito, Nick(3-2) Loss-KARCH, Eric(4-3) T-3:58 A-121
HR UCSB - Haddow, Mark (4).
Weather: overcast, slight breeze
Brady, M faced 1 batter in the 5th.
