Final Stats

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. -- The Pepperdine baseball team dropped a 2-1 decision on Saturday afternoon after Saint Mary's scored runs in the eighth and ninth innings to pull off the comeback win.

Pepperdine took a 1-0 lead midway through the pitchers duel, but the Gaels tied it with a single in the eighth and plated an unearned run in the ninth to pull ahead.

Corbin Burnes tossed 8.0 innings for the Gaels, giving up just one run and five hits in the outing. Cameron Neff then came in and got the save for Saint Mary's, which moves to 21-17, 7-10 WCC.

Jackson McClelland (Beaumont, Calif./Redlands East Valley HS) battled through 5.0 scoreless innings in the start for Pepperdine before turning it over to Chandler Blanchard (Henderson, Nev./Coronado HS) with a 1-0 lead. Blanchard allowed four hits and just the one earned run as Saint Mary's scored on a throwing error in the ninth inning. The Waves fall to 21-19, 11-6 WCC with the loss, but retain possession of third place in the conference standings.

Pepperdine got runners in scoring position in the fifth after Jeremy Goldenetz (Corona, Calif./Corona Santiago HS) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Matt Gelalich (La Verne, Calif./Bonita HS) followed with a double. Chris Fornaci (Walnut Creek, Calif./De La Salle HS) then singled up the middle to bring home Goldentez for the Waves' lone run.

The Gaels got an RBI single from Davis Strong with two outs in the eighth. It was one of nine hits on the day for Saint Mary's. The visitors then got a leadoff single from Jackson Thoreson in the ninth and moved the runner to third on a sacrifice bunt and groundout before Thoreson scored on the error.

Both Aaron Barnett (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley HS) and Gelalich had two-hit days for the Waves. Matt Toscano was 2-for-4 for Saint Mary's.

The two teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon for the rubber game at 1 p.m. Fans can watch that game live on WaveCasts.