April 9, 2011

Box Score

Pepperdine and Portland Game One Box Score (April 9, 2011)

Pepperdine and Portland Game Two Box Score (April 9, 2011)

PORTLAND, Ore. - Chris Amezquita homered for the second straight game vs. Portland Saturday at Joe Etzel Field, belting a three-run shot that carried Pepperdine to an eventual 6-2 win in game one, but it was all Pilots during the nightcap as starter Chris Johnson went the distance in dealing a 6-0 shutout victory.

The doubleheader split earned the Pilots a series victory over Pepperdine and lifted their series record to 12-16, while the Waves dropped to 15-16 (1-2 WCC).

Amezquita's (La Mirada, Calif./Servite HS) round-tripper in the seventh inning was his third of the year and broke a 2-2 tie, making a winner out of starting southpaw Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif.), who won his third straight decision after starting the year 0-3. He struck out four batters in 6.0 innings.

Freshman Corey Miller (Laguna Niguel, Calif./JSerra Catholic HS) pitched the final three frames in earning his first career save. Miller allowed just two base runners on a hit and an error while striking out four.

Pepperdine first lit the scoreboard with two runs in the second. Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) led off with a double and scored two batters later when Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) reached on a fielding error by second baseman Riley Henricks.

Johnson touched home later in the inning on an RBI double by Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS).

A bit of wildness in the Waves allowed the Pilots to cut their deficit in half in the fourth, before tying the game in the fifth.

Gates issued a two-out walk to Henricks in the fourth and after letting loose a wild pitch that advanced him 90 feet, watched him score easily from second on Turner Gill's single to center. Brian Frattali then drew a walk to begin the fifth and scored on Tony Cooper's (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS) throwing error from left field.

Pepperdine snapped the deadlock with four runs in the seventh. Vincej doubled for a second time to lead off the inning, and after Cooper was hit by a pitch, Amezquita drilled starter Kyle Kraus' final toss of the ball game over the wall in left.

Humphries immediately followed Amezquita's shot with a two-bagger off Portland reliever Keeler Brynteson, and scored his second run of the game on Johnson's infield single.

The Waves went on to register nine more hits in game two, but they couldn't push a runner past second, and only twice did they place two or more runners on base in a single inning. In addition to striking out eight batters, starter Johnson issued no free passes through 125 pitches, 88 of which were called strikes.

Pepperdine used five pitchers vs. Johnson, beginning with freshman Scott Frazier (Upland, Calif./Upland HS), who in his first start since Opening Day allowed just one unearned run on three hits through 3.0 of work innings while striking out four.

The Pilots broke the game open offensively with four runs scored between the fourth and fifth innings off two s relievers, and then tacked on more in the eighth. Gill led Portland in game two with three hits, two runs and one RBI.

Pepperdine returns to action Tuesday for a 3 p.m. home game at Eddy D. Field Stadium vs. USC.

Pepperdine 6, Portland 2 (Apr 09, 2011 at Portland, Ore.) (Game 1)

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Pepperdine.......... 020 000 400 - 6 12 4 (15-15, 1-1 WCC)

Portland............ 000 110 000 - 2 5 1 (11-16, 1-1 WCC)

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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Gates, Aaron; MILLER, Cory(7) and . Portland - KRAUS, K;

BRYNTESON, K(7); MILLER, B(7); McCALLISTER(9) and .

Win-GATES, Aaron(3-3) Save-MILLER, Cory(1) Loss-KRAUS, K(2-3) T-2:34 A-407

HR PEP - Amezquita, Chris (3).

Weather: Nice, cool

Portland 6, Pepperdine 0 (Apr 09, 2011 at Portland, Ore.) (Game 2)

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Pepperdine.......... 000 000 000 - 0 9 1 (15-16, 1-2 WCC)

Portland............ 001 220 01X - 6 10 0 (12-16, 2-1 WCC)

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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Frazier, Scott; LEE, Jared(4); SWANNER, Michael(4); NAJERA, Alex(6);

DICKERSON, Cody(8) and . Portland - JOHNSON, C and .

Win-JOHNSON, C(2-1) Loss-FRAZIER, Scott(1-1) T-2:20 A-407

Weather: Some clouds, pleasant