April 2, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and BYU Box Score (April 2, 2011) 
MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine baseball won the third and final game of its series vs. BYU Saturday at Eddy D. Field Stadium, 5-3, on sophomore Joe Sever's bases-loaded single in the eighth inning that broke a 3-3 tie.
The victory pushed the Waves' season record a game back over .500 at 14-13, while BYU dropped to 14-12.
Cougar reliever Matthew Neil, who suffered the loss, was in his third inning of work and had been cruising through the Pepperdine lineup right up until there were two outs when Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) kick started the rally with an infield single off Neil's shin.
Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) then smacked a rocket off third baseman Bret Lopez' chest for infield hit No. 2 , and Tony Cooper (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS) loaded the bases with a high chopper than landed between the mound and shortstop Andrew Law.
Wasting no time in his at-bat, Sever smacked the first pitch he saw from Neil through the hole on the right side, scoring both Humphries and Vincej, who slid into home behind the tag. Sever finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI and homered for the first time all season with a solo shot in the second inning that gave Pepperdine a 3-0 lead.
The round-tripper was Sever's first since March 6, 2010 vs. Brown at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.
Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) also went deep for the second time in a week, smashing a two-run shot over the left-field wall against BYU starter Mark Anderson.
Pepperdine ripped five hits and scored three runs off Anderson, but had trouble vs. Cougar Blake Torgerson who allowed just one hit in his 3.2 innings of relief.
The Waves' 3-0 lead lasted until the seventh when BYU finally solved Pepperdine starter Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran), who by that point had blanked the Cougars on three hits.
But with one out in the seventh, BYU picked up back-to-back singles from Austin Hall and Alex Wolfe followed by consecutive walks issued to Lopez and Dane Nielsen. BYU leadoff hitter Stephen Wells knotted the game at 3-3 with a bases-loaded single and advanced to second on the throw home.
So with two runners in scoring position, the coaches called in Brian McIlhenny (Scottsdale, Ariz./Brophy College Preparatory) from the bullpen to preserve the tie and the sophomore did not disappoint.
First he got Law to hit a ground ball to third where Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) tagged out Nielsen diving back for the bag, and got Ryan Bernal to ground out to shortstop.
McIlhenny finished the game to improve to 2-1 on the season and retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth with two strikeouts.
Pepperdine returns to action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton, and begin West Coast Conference action Friday at Portland.
Pepperdine 5, BYU 3 (Apr 02, 2011 at Malibu, Calif.)
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BYU................. 000 000 300 - 3 5 1 (14-12)
Pepperdine.......... 210 000 02X - 5 10 0 (14-13)
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Pitchers: BYU - ANDERSON, Mark; TORGERSON, Blake(2); NEIL, Matthew(6) and WOLFE, Alex.
Pepperdine - Gates, Aaron; McILHENNY, Brian(7) and Diedrich, Trent.
Win-McILHENNY, Brian(2-1) Loss-NEIL, Matthew(1-2) T-2:08 A-308
HR PEP - Diedrich, Trent (2); Sever, Joe (1).
Weather: 68, Partly Sunny
