Final Stats

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine baseball team dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 16 UC Santa Barbara at home on Tuesday afternoon.

The Gauchos broke a 4-4 tie with runs in the seventh and eighth inning and the Waves couldn't find a late rally, leaving three runners on in the final three innings.

Pepperdine scored all four of its runs on a Brandon Caruso (Pasadena, Calif./Loyola HS) grand slam in the fourth as the sophomore hit one out to left with two outs in the inning. The blast gave the home team a 4-2 lead.

The Waves had runners on first and second in the very next inning, but UCSB reliever Connor Baits came in to get the next three outs and end the threat. Pepperdine loaded the bases in the sixth, but couldn't push a run across, grounding out to end the inning.

After the Waves went up by two on Caruso's shot, the Gauchos came right back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, scoring on an error and a bases-loaded walk to tie the game up. An RBI single by Peter Maris in the seventh gave UCSB the lead and a run-scoring double by Robby Nesovic in the eighth made it 6-4.

Kiko Garcia (Chula Vista, Calif./St. Augustine HS) got the start for the Waves and tossed 6.0 innings, giving up three earned runs. Jeremy Erisman (Redmond, Ore./Westview HS) took the loss after giving up the go-ahead run in relief.

Gaucho reliever Kyle Nelson picked up the win as the pitcher of record when UCSB went ahead in the seventh. Baits and Joe Record each tossed 1.2 innings of relief for the visitors and starter Domenic Mazza went 4.0 innings.

Hutton Moyer (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) and Aaron Barnett (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley HS) each had two-hit days for the Waves and Caruso was 1-for-4. Andrew Calica had a 5-for-5 day in the leadoff spot for the Gauchos, who recorded 14 hits in the game.

The loss drops the Waves to 4-4 on the year and UCSB moves to 7-1. Pepperdine is back in action later this week when it hosts Hawaii for a four-game series starting on Thursday.