WCC RELEASE

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine ace A.J. Puckett picked up West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week honors on Monday, thanks to yet another scoreless outing for the junior righthander this past weekend at LMU.

Puckett continued his tear through the WCC season, notching his sixth straight start without giving up an earned run on Friday, to run his streak to 45.2 innings. Puckett tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in a dominant outing against LMU, leading the Waves to a 6-0 victory in the opener and helping Pepperdine pick up a crucial series win to grab the ever-important fourth place in the conference standings. Puckett worked out of the only two jams he faced in the game, stranding runners on the corners in the third and then got a strikeout to leave runners on second and third in the fourth.

Puckett struck out six batters in the game, running his season total to 63 against just 16 walks. The junior right-hander has only allowed two unearned runs since beginning his streak and hasn't allowed a run of any kind in his last 36.0 innings of work. The 45.2 innings without an earned run are a Pepperdine record since game-by-game records began being kept. He has run his season ERA to a league-leading 1.16.

Puckett is the second Wave to earn weekly honors this season, after Manny Jefferson picked up WCC Player of the Week last week.