May 16, 2011
Pepperdine Baseball: Long Beach State Game Notes (May 17, 2011) 
Pepperdine (20-27, 5-10 WCC) at Long Beach (24-25, 8-10 Big West)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - Blair Field - 6:30 p.m./Wave Casts
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Alex Najera, lhp (1-3, 3.86) vs. Kyle Friedrichs, rhp (3-2, 4.58)
TUESDAY'S GAME: Is the second of a two-game season series between Pepperdine and Long Beach State and the final game of a four-game road trip (0-3 at USF) ... Pepperdine is 4-16 on the road ... 1-5 during the night ... 4-5 on Tuesday ... 5-4 vs. Big West: (2-0 vs. Cal Poly, 1-1 vs. Cal State Fullerton, 0-1 vs. Long Beach, 1-1 vs. UCSB, 0-1 vs. UC Irvine, 1-0 vs. UCR).
WAVES VS. DIRTBAGS: Pepperdine is 59-61-2 all time vs. Long Beach State ... 22-19-2 at Eddy D. Field Stadium, including a 7-5 (12-inning loss) earlier this season on March 15 ... 37-42 at Blair Field and neutral sites ... 10-19 since 1999 ... 6-11 under head coach Steve Rodriguez ... Went 1-2 vs. LBSU in 2010 ... Snapped a three-game series losing streak to Long Beach following a 4-0 home win on May 5, 2010 ... Dropped a 2-1 decision on Opening Day (Feb. 19, 2010) at Blair Field, and lost again there, 9-8, on May 25 ... Pepperdine has not won a road game vs. the Dirtbags since May 2, 2006 (W, 5-1).
SOUND + VISION: Fans can catch all Pepperdine home games and selected road contests -- including Tuesday's night game at Long Beach State -- at PepperdineSports.com ... Just go to the site's home page and click on the Wave Casts link located just beneath the headlines ... Live statistics are also available via Game Tracker on all CBS-hosted sites.
THE BATS: Sophomore Joe Sever continued his assault against opposing pitchers last weekend at San Francisco, hitting .538 (7-for-13) with two home runs and six RBI ... Sever launched a two-run shot in game two vs. the Dons and blasted his first career grand slam in the second inning of game three ... Sever's five RBI Sunday (5/15) set a career high as he became the first Wave since Nate Johnson on March 26, 2010 (vs. Stony Brook) to go deep with the bases loaded ... Sever also is the second Wave this year to homer in consecutive games, joining Chris Amezquita (4/8 & 9 at Portland) ... Sam Meyer extended his personal best hitting streak to nine games with a 4-for-11 series at USF and now leads Pepperdine with a .315 batting average ... David DiPaola also posted solid numbers vs. the Dons, hitting .364 with a double, two runs and a stolen base ... Brian Humphries went yard in the first inning of game one and needs just seven RBI to reach 100 for his career.
THE ARMS: Pepperdine's starters and relievers had an equally tough time at San Francisco, collectively allowing 18 runs on 31 hits, 13 walks and three hit batsmen through 24.0 innings with 15 strikeouts ... Eight of the Dons hits went for extra bases, including a three-run home run by Pete Lavin in the seventh inning of game one vs. starter Aaron Gates with two outs ... Gates was dealing a shutout until that point and finished with four strikeouts ... Jon Moscot delivered a quality start in game two, giving up a pair of runs through 6.0 innings with four Ks, but his bullpen was roughed up during a five-run seventh and the Waves lost 7-2 ... Sunday starter Matt Maurer could not get out of the second inning as the Dons rallied from a five-run deficit and later scored the go-ahead runs off reliever Jared Lee, who stayed on for 5.2 innings in a long-relief appearance with four punchouts.
THE GLOVES: Pepperdine made zero errors through 109 fielding opportunities during its three-game series at USF, marking only the second time this season the Waves have gone three or more games without a miscue ... Pepperdine also had a four-game errorless streak from March 19-25 in contests vs. Coastal Carolina, Cal Poly and Dayton, which coincided with their longest winning streak of 2011 (five games) ... Additionally, the Waves spun two double plays in raising their season total to a conference best 56 ... Harrison Kain was credited with his ninth outfield assist after throwing a Dons base runner out a third from center field following a failed pickoff attempt ... Senior catcher Trent Diedrich caught two runners stealing second base on three attempts.
WAVES AMONG THE WCC LEADERS: Pepperdine ranks fifth in pitching (4.08), seventh in batting (.251) and eighth in fielding (.967) ... Brian Humphries is tied for fourth with two triples and ranks fifth with 11 stolen bases (12 attempts) ... Zach Vincej is first with 14 hit by pitches and tied for fourth with four sacrifice flies ... Aaron Gates ranks second with his .208 opposing batting average ... Ricky Villarreal is fourth with six saves and with 15 games finished ... Brian McIlhenny is first with 26 relief appearances ... INF Joe Sever and Vincej are both among the top three players for fielding double plays with 47 and 43, respectively.
WAVES IN THE STANDINGS (89): Have spent the following days alone or tied at each position in the West Coast Conference standings: FIRST - 0, SECOND - 0, THIRD - 1, FOURTH - 6, FIFTH - 23, SIXTH - 6, SEVENTH - 3, EIGHTH - 1 ... Have spent 17 days above, 16 days at and 56 days below .500 this season ... Finished tied for third last year with San Francisco at 12-9 ... Since placing fifth in 1983, the Waves have finished first 14 times, second place 10 times and third on three occasions.
THE HEAD COACH: Steve Rodriguez is in his eighth season as the head coach of Pepperdine baseball and owns an all-time record of 261-198 (.569) ... Passed his former head coach Andy Lopez (241) for fourth place on the Waves' all-time coaching wins list following a three-game sweep of Eastern Kentucky (2/28-20) ... Moved ahead of Frank Sanchez (257) for third place with a 2-1 win vs. LMU on April 22 ... Needs to win three of the team's last nine games to pass John Scolinos (263) for second place ... Served as an assistant coach under Sanchez from 2000 to 2003 ... Managed his 450th game as the Waves' head coach on April 23, 2011 vs. LMU ... Only Dave Gorrie (611) and Scolinos (482) have managed more games than Rodriguez (459) while wearing the Pepperdine uniform ... Guided his clubs to three WCC titles and five NCAA Regional appearances ... Voted Top Chef at the 2010 and 2011 Southern California Baseball Coaches Cooking Challenges hosted by ESPN Zone in Anaheim.
WAVES AT EDDY D. FIELD STADIUM (16-11, .577): Finished recent four-game homestand at 2-2 ... Lost two-of-three to Santa Clara, which the Waves first series loss at home to the Broncos in more than a decade and their third of the 2011 (Louisville, BYU) ... Responded with 7-0 win over No. 9 Cal State Fullerton (5/10) ... Need to win one more of their remaining seven home games to extend their streak of non-losing (.500 or better) seasons to a 38th year ... Have not experienced a losing season at home since 1973 -- their inaugural year on the Malibu Campus ... Their stretch includes 31 seasons of posting a winning percentage of .600 or better ... 12 years above .700 ... 7 seasons above .800, including the 1992 campaign in which the Waves finished 24-1-1 (.942) ... The Waves are at the end of their 39th season at Eddy D. Field Stadium, where they are 825-326-12 (.714).
WAVES ON THE ROAD (4-16, .200): Swept at San Francisco to begin their final four-game road trip (0-3) of 2011, which also includes Tuesday night's game at Long Beach ... Was only their second time ever being swept by the Dons and first since 1970 ... Clinched their fifth-straight losing season away from Eddy D. Field Stadium following a 3-2 loss at UC Santa Barbara (4/19) ... With only two road games remaining will avoid matching 2010's 19 road losses, which were their most since 2004 when they dropped 19 during head coach Steve Rodriguez' first season ... Have claimed four winning seasons on the road since 1999.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men's sports -- one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine's teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
