May 18, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and Long Beach State Box Score (May 18, 2011) 
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Long Beach State erased a 2-0 deficit with four runs in the sixth off two Pepperdine relievers and went on to win 4-3 Wednesday night at Blair Field.
The loss dropped the Waves season record to 20-28, while the Dirtbags evened their mark at 25-25.
LBSU sent eight men to the plate in the decisive inning and scored all their runs with two outs against Corey Miller (Laguna Niguel, Calif./JSerra Catholic HS) and Ricky Villarreal (Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS). Matt Duffy singled in the home team's first run with a base hit to left vs. Miller, and then Villarreal loaded the bases with a walk to Juan Avila.
The Dirtbags tied the contest at 2-2 on a catchers interference call with Brennan Metzger at the plate and took the lead for good on Jeff Yamaguchi's two-run single down the right-field line. Yamaguchi was eventually caught between first and second for the final out with Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) being credited with his 10th outfield assist.
Long Beach was quieted the rest of the way as Michael Swanner (Cardiff, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) and Eric Karch (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) finished the game with two scoreless innings.
Nate Underwood benefitted from the Dirtbags' offensive exploits in improving to 3-0 on the season and Branded Pinder picked up his second save with 1.1 shutout frames. Pinder struck out two.
Pepperdine broke a scoreless tie in the fourth on a Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) RBI single through the left side that scored Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) from third. Humphries led off the inning with his eighth double of the year and later advanced on a wild pitch.
The Waves tacked on their second run in the fifth as Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) smacked a RBI double over the head of right fielder Juan Avila, allowing Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) to score easily from first base.
Pepperdine cut the Long Beach lead to 4-3 in the eighth. After Sever hit a leadoff single, Sam Meyer (Los Gatos, Calif./St. Francis HS) extended his personal best hitting streak to 10 games with a two-out base hit, and Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) followed with a shot that landed in front of Metzger in center field.
Sever, Diedrich and Johnson all finished the game with two hits. For Sever it was his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
Jared Lee (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) started for Pepperdine and pitched five scoreless innings, striking out five to go along with nine ground outs. He retired the side on two occasions and escaped a pair of two-on, one out jams, first getting a 6-4-3 double play in the second, and then coming back to strike out the Dirtbag No. 8 and 9 hitters in the fifth. Lee was behind in the count 3-0 to both batters, but got each of them to chase the payoff pitch.
The Waves return to action this weekend, playing host to Gonzaga for a three-game series that starts Friday at 3 p.m.
Long Beach 4, Pepperdine 3 (May 18, 2011 at Long Beach, Calif.)
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Pepperdine.......... 000 110 010 - 3 9 1 (20-28)
Long Beach.......... 000 004 00X - 4 6 0 (25-25)
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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Lee, Jared; MILLER, Cory(6); VILLARREAL, Ricky(6); SWANNER, Michael(7);
KARCH, Eric(8) and Diedrich, Trent. Long Beach - Friedrichs, Kyle; Johnson, Matt(5);
Underwood, Nate(6); Magallon, Eddie(8); Pinder, Branden(8) and Murai, Royce.
Win-Underwood, Nate(3-0) Save-Pinder, Branden(2) Loss-MILLER, Cory(0-2) T-2:50 A-635
Weather: Clear and Breezy
