May 26, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and Saint Mary's College (May 26, 2011) 
MALIBU, Calif. - An eight-run first inning coupled with a complete game from Aaron Gates led to an 11-2 victory for the Pepperdine baseball team over Saint Mary's Thursday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
For Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS) it was the first 9.0-inning effort of his three-year career as he scattered two runs (one unearned) on six hits and struck out three on 131 pitches. The productive outing - Gates' last of 2011 - lowered his season ERA to 3.15 and opponents batting average to .212.
"The first batter grounded out to third on my first pitch and that set me up nicely for the rest of the game," Gates said of his start, which he considered his best of the year. "The defense also again played great behind me and got to a lot of ground balls like Joe (Sever) on that double play."
Gates got Saint Mary's (25-28, 7-12 WCC) to ground out 15 times and the two twin killings turned behind him raised his season total to a WCC-best 19.
A seven-pitch first from Gates was immediately followed by the Waves biggest inning of the season as they sent 12 men to the plate in scoring eight runs. The inning started inconspicuously enough as Joe Sever (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) was hit by a 0-2 pitch from Mark Anderson, but then the wheels quickly fell off for the Gael ace who began the day with a 2.28 ERA.
After Sever reached first Miles Silverstein (Bell Canyon, Calif./Calabasas HS) hit one back up the middle and Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) loaded the bases with a perfect bunt single up the third-base line.
Sam Meyer (Los Gatos, Calif./St. Francis HS) brought home the first run with an RBI single and then Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS) came through with the first of three two-run doubles smacked down the left-field line. Also driving in a pair in the first were Zach Vincej (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) from the No. 8 spot and Sever at the top of the order.
"It's always great to see the offense have a day like today; that was fun to watch everyone either get a RBI single or double," added Gates. "Certainly made things easier on me and everyone played a lot more relaxed."
Despite the Waves (22-32, 7-12 WCC) recent offensive woes they always seem to find their stroke against Saint Mary's and today's win raised their all-time series record vs. the Gaels to 122-24 and 21-1 under head coach Steve Rodriguez. Pepperdine hasn't dropped a contest to SMC since 2008 and during a 2009 home game the Waves scored eight times in both the first and fourth innings en route to a 21-2 win. Additionally, Pepperdine has scored in double figures 11 times vs. their conference rivals since 2002.
Anderson settled down and allowed just two base runners over the next four innings, but was chased after the sixth where the Waves scored twice more on a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly.
Kurt Jahnke pitched the final two innings, giving up a run in the ninth on pinch hitter Eric Karch's (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS) ground ball to short that scored Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS).
Karch was the Waves 11th different batter of the game and all of them either scored or drove in at least one run. Silverstein, however, was the lone Wave with two hits.
Donald Collins led the SMC offense with two hits and reached base all four times, including a run-scoring double in the eighth. A failed pickoff attempt by Gates in the third helped lead to the Gaels' first run as Michael Gastellum advanced two bases on the errant throw before scoring on Richard Boas' single.
Pepperdine and Saint Mary's resume their three-game series Friday at 3 p.m. Jon Moscot (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Palisades HS), who pitched a complete-game shutout last week vs. Gonzaga, will start for the Waves.
Pepperdine 11, Saint Mary's 2 (May 26, 2011 at Malibu, Calif.)
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Saint Mary's........ 001 000 010 - 2 6 1 (25-28, 7-12 WCC)
Pepperdine.......... 800 002 01X - 11 11 3 (22-32, 7-12 WCC)
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Pitchers: Saint Mary's - ANDERSON, Mark; JAHNKE, Kurt(7) and DeMELLO, Toby; HEINZER, Riley.
Pepperdine - Gates, Aaron and Diedrich, Trent.
Win-GATES, Aaron(4-5) Loss-ANDERSON, Mark(8-6) T-2:24 A-103
Weather: 70, Sunny
