Game Notes

THIS WEEK FOR THE WAVES: The Pepperdine baseball team heads to Stockton, Calif. for the WCC Tournament. The Waves open the four-team tournament on Thursday at 7 p.m. against BYU.

COVERAGE: All games of the WCC Tournament leading up to the final will be shown live on TheW.tv. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPNU on Saturday at 7 p.m.

FOLLOW AND LIKE WAVES BASEBALL: Be sure and join Pepperdine's growing communities on Facebook and Twitter today. Follow and like Waves baseball on Facebook (Pepperdine Baseball) or Twitter (@PEPPBASEBALL).

TICKET INFO: Tickets for the tournament start at $5 for students and seniors and $12 for MVP seating. Tickets will are all-day passes, which will vary between one and three games played per day.

SCHEDULE
Thursday
Game 1: #1 San Diego vs. #4 LMU, 3 p.m.
Game 2: #2 Pepperdine vs. #3 BYU, 7 p.m.
Friday
Game 3: G1 loser vs. G2 loser, 12 p.m.
Game 4: G1 winner vs. G2 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Game 5: G3 winner vs. G4 loser, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 6 (Champ): G4 winner vs. G5 winner, 7 p.m.

STARTERS: PEP RHP Jackson McClelland (6-3, 2.41 ERA) vs. BYU RHP Brandon Kinser (6-3, 4.29 ERA)

LAST WEEK FOR THE WAVES: The Waves clinched their spot in the WCC Tournament with a 2-1 series win over Gonzaga last weekend. Pepperdine's win on Saturday clinched the postseason berth and then the team's Sunday win locked up the #2 seed in the tournament.

WALK-OFF WINs:

• In the team's third contest of the year, Jordan Qsar hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, helping the Waves comeback from a 1-0 deficit with the two-run shot. It was just the second hit of the day for Pepperdine.
• The Waves came away with a dramatic win against Cal Poly two weeks ago, getting a walk-off homer from Chris Fornaci in the 10th inning to steal a 9-8 victory at home from the Mustangs. The final score was the only time the Waves led in the ballgame, coming back from a 6-0 deficit to grab the victory.
• The Waves opened their sweep of Santa Clara with a walk-off win, getting the game-winning single from Aaron Barnett in the bottom of the ninth. The Waves had tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth inning before Barnett drove in the game-winning run.
• Pepperdine closed the regular season with a ninth-inning win over Gonzaga, getting a walk-off home run from Hutton Moyer for a 4-3 victory. It was Moyer's second homer of the day, with his first tying it in the bottom of the sixth.

AUTOMATIC BID: The winner of the four-team conference tournament will receive the WCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Waves snagged the bid last year, going 3-0 in Stockton.

POWER SURGE: The Waves lead the WCC with 43 home runs this season, which is 13 more than the next closest team (30, LMU). The 43 long balls hit by the Waves matches the highest total for the team since 2009. 25% of the team's runs (67) have been generated by way of home run this season.

ALL-WCC: The WCC released its postseason awards and seven Waves were honored, with Hutton Moyer and Brandon Caruso taking home All-WCC first team accolades. Jackson McClelland was named to the All-WCC second team, and Jordan Qsar and Ryan Wilson grabbed All-Freshman Team honors. Aaron Barnett and Matt Gelalich received honorable mention for the Waves.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: A.J. Puckett picked up WCC Pitcher of the Week honors after he won the opening game of the Waves' series against Saint Mary's, tossing a complete-game, five-hit shutout to down the Gaels 7-0 on Friday. Puckett struck out seven batters and did not allow a single free base in his second complete-game shutout of the year. He used 101 pitches to cruise through the Gaels' order in just over two and a half hours. All five hits the Waves' righty allowed were singles and Saint Mary's runners only made it past first in three innings. Puckett faced only one batter over the minimum through the first five frames.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK X2: Hutton Moyer picked up the Waves' first WCC Player of the Week award on earlier this year after leading the team to a 3-1 record. Moyer hit .529 with five RBI and team-best nine hits. Moyer hit three homers and two doubles, slugging 1.176 in 17 at-bats over the four-game stretch. The junior second-baseman had a .600 on-base percentage and scored a team-high seven runs. Moyer hit safely in each game last week and had multiple hits in three of the four contests. He now leads the team with a .323 average on the year and is hitting .385 in WCC play. Moyer grabbed a second weekly honor after he helped lead Pepperdine to a 2-1 series win over Gonzaga this weekend, which locked up the second-seed in the WCC Tournament for the Waves. Moyer hit .385 on the week, finishing it in dramatic fashion with a two-home run day that included a walk-off shot in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday. Moyer also added a double and had five hits on the week.

COACHES POLL: With the release of the 2015 WCC Preseason Coaches Poll, Pepperdine was picked to finish second in the conference. The Waves tallied 72 total points in the coaches poll, with three first-place votes, to sit behind cross-town rival LMU (77 points, 6 first place). San Diego received the remaining first-place vote. The defending champion Waves were picked second in the preseason poll last year as well. Pepperdine also placed one player on the preseason all-conference team with Hutton Moyer making the list as an infielder.

WAVES ROSTER BREAKDOWN: This year's Waves squad features a good balance of veterans and young talent, with 18 returners and 15 newcomers on the roster. The Waves have two seniors, six juniors, 12 sophomores and 15 freshmen. Two of the four Waves' probable starting pitchers are returners and six of the probable starting position players were with the team last season as well.

SAN DIEGO OPPONENT INFO: The Toreros come into the tournament as the #1 seed after posting a 19-8 WCC record. USD wrapped up its conference season a week before everyone else, clinching the WCC title by taking two of three games from Pepperdine.

BYU OPPONENT INFO: The Cougars clinched their postseason spot on the same day as the Waves with a win last Saturday against Santa Clara. BYU locked up the #3 seed on Monday by winning a makeup game against Saint Mary's. Pepperdine dropped its season series, 2-1, at BYU.

LMU OPPONENT INFO: The Lions had to hit the road and score a series sweep at San Francisco to secure the #4 seed in the playoff. LMU went to extra-innings on Sunday to clinch its postseason spot in dramatic fashion. The Waves lost two of three games to the Lions at home this year.

STAT RANKINGS:

• McClelland/Puckett 4th WCC in complete games (2)
• Caruso 2nd WCC in doubles (19)
• McClelland 5th WCC in ERA (2.41)
• McClelland 6th WCC in hits/9 (7.74)
• Moyer 2nd WCC in home runs (12)
• Blanchard 4th WCC in pitching appearances (26)
• Moyer 3rd WCC in runs scored (44)
• Jefferson 13th NCAA, 1st WCC in sacrifice flies (7)
• Barnett 6th NCAA, 1st WCC toughest to strikeout (19.5 AB/K)
• Moyer/Gelalich 3rd WCC in triples (4)
• Wilson/Puckett 3rd WCC in wins (7)

• Waves 2nd WCC in walks (201)
• Waves 1st WCC in double plays (49)
• Waves 3rd WCC in doubles (97)
• Waves 40th NCAA, 1st WCC in home runs (43)
• Waves 1st WCC in sacrifice flies (26)
• Waves 2nd WCC in slugging percentage (.410)
• Waves 3rd WCC in triples (13)

2014 WCC CHAMPS: The Waves won the regular-season WCC Championship last year, making it the program's 17th regular-season title and second in the past three years after winning the 2012 title. Pepperdine also grabbed the conference tournament title, going 3-0 in Stockton to lock up the WCC's automatic bid. It was just the second year the WCC has used the four-team format and the first time the Waves have won it.

POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Waves have made their 28th appearance in NCAA postseason play last season, advancing to the first ever NCAA Super Regional since the round was instated in 1999. Pepperdine advanced by winning the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Regional, defeating Cal Poly and Arizona State to move on. The Waves eventually fell to TCU, two games to one in the best of three series. Pepperdine won a College World Series title in 1992 and has appeared in the College World Series twice (`79, `92).

ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports - one of just 16 schools to have accomplished this feat - and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment and is the only school not affiliated with a BCS-level conference. The Waves have earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #57 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.