Waves, Trojans To Finish One Game, Start Another Tuesday
5/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2011
Pepperdine Baseball Game Notes: USC (May 24, 2011) 
Pepperdine (21-30, 6-12 WCC) vs. USC (22-29,12-12 Pac-10)
Pitchers: Jared Lee, RHP (2-1, 4.91) vs. TBA
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 3 p.m.
Dedeaux Field, Los Angeles
TUESDAY'S GAMES: Include the continuation of a halted game between the Waves and USC that was started at Pepperdine's Eddy D. Field Stadium on April 12 as well as the second and final contest of a two-game season series between SoCal rivals ... The Waves game at Dedeaux Field marks their final road trip of 2011 ... They return home Thursday for a three-game and season-ending series vs. Saint Mary's ... Pepperdine is 15-18 vs. non-conference opponents this season ... 17-13 at home ... 4-17 on the road ... 20-24 during the day ... 1-6 at night ... 5-9 in midweek contests ... 0-2 vs. Pac-10 (0-2 vs. UCLA).
SOUND + VISION: Fans can catch all Pepperdine home games and selected road contests -- including Tuesday's games at USC -- 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.
WAVES VS. TROJANS: Pepperdine is 39-74-1 all time against USC, including 0-2 in 2010 (L, 5-0 and 3-2 ) ... Swept the 2009 season series, winning 10-1 at Dedeaux Field on Feb. 25, and 8-5 on April 15 at Eddy D. Field Stadium ... Was their third series sweep of the Trojans over the past five years, dating back to 2006 ... Prior to 2010, had not lost to USC at home since 2003 (L, 9-6) ... The Waves are 20-16-1 vs. USC at Eddy D. Field Stadium ... 19-58 at Dedeaux Field ... 14-18 since 1999 ... 9-7 under Steve Rodriguez.
WORKING OVERTIME: Pepperdine's halted extra-inning game vs. USC will be its program record 10th overtime contest of 2011 ... The previous record of eight had been in place since 1990 ... The Waves have lost their last four extra-inning games dating back to March 31 (L, 4-5 (12) vs. BYU) and are 4-5 overall ... The Waves' 15-inning affair with the Gauchos at UC Santa Barbara on April 19 tied a team record for longest game (innings) ... Pepperdine also went 15 rounds with Cal State Northridge in 1992, Cal State Fullerton in 1997 and Portland in 2002 ... The Waves record book tracks extra-inning games back to 1981.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The halted game between USC and Pepperdine will pick up in the top of the 12 inning with the score tied at 5-5 ... Right fielder Alex Sherrod is due up for the Trojans vs. reliever Ricky Villarreal ... The Waves held leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 5-3 but twice allowed USC to tie the game past the fifth inning ... The Trojans scored their last two runs in the ninth off relievers Corey Miller and Ricky Villarreal ... Leading the Pepperdine offense were Zach Vincej and Chris Amezquita, each of whom had two RBI ... Alex Najera started for Pepperdine and went 4.2 inning allowing three runs on five hits with two Ks.
THE BATS: It was a tough weekend for the Waves offensively against Gonzaga, the top pitching team in the WCC with a 3.14 ERA ... Five Bulldog pitchers combined to hold the Waves to five runs, two extra-base hits and a .149 batting average ... Pepperdine scored twice in the fifth inning of game one and were aided by two wild pitches and a passed ball in between a pair of infield singles ... During Saturday's 3-0 win, Brian Humphries came up with a big two-run, two-out single in the third, and in the fifth Trent Diedrich doubled home Joe Sever ... The Waves drew five walks in their victory with two of the free pass recipients coming around to score ... In two starts at DH, Tyler Brubaker was the Waves most consistent hitter of the weekend, going 3-for-6 (.500) ... Miles Silverstein was credited with three sacrifice hits ... Harrison Kain and Zach Vincej pulled off a double steal in raising the team's season total to 45.
THE ARMS: Jon Moscot pitched the Waves first complete game shutout of the season Saturday, defeating Gonzaga 3-0 ... It was the first by a Wave since Robert Dickmann did it against San Francisco in the 2010 season finale ... On 125 pitches, Moscot scattered five hits and two walks with five strikeouts and two double play ground outs ... His fellow starters Aaron Gates and Alex Najera struggled at times with their control, leading to several scoring opportunities for the Bulldogs ... Gates, in his game one start Friday, tied a career high with seven walks but minimized the damage by getting three double play ground outs (17 on the season) and picking a runner off second base (his sixth) ... Najera, who was making his first career weekend start Sunday, walked four and hit a batter during his 5.0 innings of work ... The Waves four-man bullpen allowed just one run through 6.0 innings on six hits and three strikeouts, while walking none.
THE GLOVES: Pepperdine made four errors (including three Sunday) during their weekend series vs. Gonzaga, dropping their season fielding percentage to .968 but none led to any unearned runs ... Prior to Sunday, however, it seemed as if all the Waves were wearing Gold Gloves as they tied a single-game program record with five double plays turned on Friday before spinning two more Saturday ... The five twin killings were their most since an April 13, 2002 game at LMU ... They also turned five DPs on April 30, 1999 at San Francisco ... Joe Sever came up with an unassisted double play in the first inning of game one, diving into the second bag after catching a line drive hit back up the middle ... Outfielders Harrison Kain and Ryan Van Amburg got into the action Sunday as the duo combined for three outfield assists, raising the team's season total to 19, of which Kain has 12 ... Kain showcased his arm in the third inning of game three, firing a laser from center field right to home plate where catcher Trent Diedrich put the tag on Cameron Edman.
WAVES AMONG THE WCC LEADERS: Pepperdine ranks fifth in pitching (4.00), eighth in batting (.246) and in fielding (.968) ... Brian Humphries is tied for fourth with two triples and ranks fifth with 11 stolen bases (12 attempts) ... Zach Vincej is tied for first with 14 hit by pitches and tied for fourth with four sacrifice flies ... Miles Silverstein ranks fourth with 12 sacrifice hits ... Aaron Gates ranks third with his .216 opposing batting average and is fourth with 13 starts ... Ricky Villarreal is fourth with six saves and with 15 games finished ... Brian McIlhenny is first with 27 relief appearances ... INF Joe Sever and Vincej are both among the top three players for fielding double plays with 54 and 49, respectively.
WAVES IN THE STANDINGS (96): 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 - 10, EIGHTH - 1 ... Have spent 17 days above, 16 days at and 63 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 262-201 (.566) ... 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 two of the team's last five 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 (463) 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 (17-13, .567): Lost two of three to Gonzaga, which the Waves fourth series loss at home this season (Louisville, BYU, Santa Clara) ... With 17 wins and four home games remaining, including the halted game being finished at USC, Pepperdine has extended 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 826-328-12 (.714).
WAVES ON THE ROAD (4-17, .190): Finished 0-4 on most recent road trip ... 0-3 at San Francisco ... 0-1 at Long Beach, a place where they have not won a game since 2006 ... 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 one road game remaining (5/24 at USC) 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.
