May 24, 2011

Box Score

Pepperdine and USC Box Score (April 12, 2011)

Pepperdine and USC Box Score (May 24, 2011)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Pepperdine baseball team lost both ends of an abbreviated doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at USC's Dedeaux Field. The Waves dropped a 7-6 (14) decision in the continuation of a halted game from April 12 before enduring a 7-3 defeat in the regularly scheduled nightcap.

The losses dropped the Waves record to 21-32 while USC improved to 24-29.

Pepperdine grabbed a 2-0 lead in game two with a pair of unearned runs in the second. With Harrison Kain (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) at first base Tony Cooper (San Carlos, Calif./Junipero Serra HS) grounded a slow roller bobbled by Joe De Pinto that should have resulted in a putout at second base. But instead it kept the inning alive for Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) who bunted the runners into scoring position, then Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) and Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) came through with consecutive run-scoring plays.

Vincej singled to left to produce the Waves first run and Sever made it a 2-0 game with an RBI ground out.

The remainder of the game, however, belonged to USC which scored seven times (four earned) from the second through sixth innings vs. five Pepperdine pitchers. The Trojans cut their deficit in half with a run in the second, took the lead for good with two in the third, and then tacked on two more in the fifth and sixth frames.

The Waves would keep the Trojan bullpen on its toes in the ninth, scoring a run on two hits and an error. Kain and Cooper began the inning with back-to-back singles, and a second error by DePinto trying to complete a double play allowed Kain score easily from third.

Kain was one of three Waves to record two or more hits along with Cooper and Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS).

The Trojans pounded out 14 hits led by three-hit efforts from Adam Landecker, Ricky Oropesa and Alex Sherrod, who also drove in a trio of runs.

Pepperdine lost the first game 7-6 in 14 innings - its program record 10th extra-inning affair of the season. The game started as a Pepperdine home game on April 12 but was halted due to darkness at the start of the 12th.

When the game finally resumed after a delay of 42 days, the Trojans quickly grabbed a 6-5 lead on Jake Hernandez' RBI ground out that plated James Roberts from third. Roberts reached earlier on a walk issued by Jared Lee (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) and advanced to third on a single through the left side.

The Waves would come right back to tie game for a third time in the bottom half of their inning on Sever's double down the right-field line. Cooper thought about scoring from first on the hits but was held up at third, and because first base was open the Trojans opted to intentionally walk Vincej to get to Kain.

USC made two additional decisions that paid off in spoiling the Waves chance at victory. First, DePinto was brought in from center field to serve as a fifth infielder positioned atop second base, and then reliever Ryan Cabral was called in from the bullpen to replace Ben Mount.

Kain chopped Cabral's pitch straight up the middle, and the Waves would have won if DePinto wasn't there, but instead he found himself in perfect position to initiate an inning-ending 8-3 double play.

USC scored its game-winning run in the top of the 14th. Again Roberts drew a free pass from Lee and scored one batter later on Brandon Garcia's double to the right-center gap.

Pepperdine put one on with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Cabral got Sever to end it with a soft liner to first base.

The Waves return to action Thursday for the start of a three-game home series vs. Saint Mary's. First pitch Thursday and Friday is 3 p.m. Saturday's season finale begins at 1 p.m.

USC 7, Pepperdine 6 (Apr 12, 2011 at Malibu, Calif.)

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USC................. 010 020 002 001 01 - 7 13 2 (23-29)

Pepperdine.......... 201 000 020 001 00 - 6 11 0 (21-31)

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Pitchers: USC - Garcia, Brandon; Munson, Matt(4); Richter, Kyle(5); Smith, Chad(8);

Mount, Ben(9); Cabral, Ryan(12) and Roundtree, Kevin. Pepperdine - Najera, Alex;

KARCH, Eric(5); McILHENNY, Brian(7); MILLER, Cory(8); VILLARREAL, Ricky(9); LEE, Jared(12) and

Johnson, Nate; Diedrich, Trent.

Win-Cabral, Ryan(1-0) Loss-LEE, Jared(2-2) T-4:44 A-187

Weather: 66, Mostly Sunny

MILLER, C. faced 1 batter in the 9th.

USC 7, Pepperdine 3 (May 24, 2011 at Los Angeles, Calif.)

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Pepperdine.......... 020 000 001 - 3 8 1 (21-32)

USC................. 012 022 00X - 7 14 2 (24-29)

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Pitchers: Pepperdine - Lee, Jared; LUVISI, Jordan(3); MILLER, Cory(5); VILLARREAL, Ricky(6);

McILHENNY, Brian(6); SWANNER, Michael(8) and Diedrich, Trent. USC - Mezger, Chris;

Richter, Kyle(6); Wheatley, Bobby(8); Munson, Matt(9); Mount, Ben(9) and Roundtree, Kevin.

Win-Mezger, Chris(2-0) Save-Mount, Ben(4) Loss-LUVISI, Jordan(0-1) T-3:02 A-132

Weather: 65, sunny

LEE, J. faced 1 batter in the 3rd.