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Box Score Game 1

Box Score Game 2

MALIBU, Calif. - Ben Rodriguez hit a grand slam in the fifth inning of the late game to help the Pepperdine baseball team earn a 4-3 win and doubleheader split with Gonzaga. The Zags won the opener 2-1 on an eighth inning homer.

Pepperdine got 6.1 strong innings on the mound from Jonathan Pendergast and then 2.2 innings of relief from Kiko Garcia to hold on for the win in the late game. Ryan Wilson tossed a complete game in the early contest, but couldn't come away with the win after giving up just a two-run homer to Jake Vieth.

Rodriguez came up with the bases loaded following an intentional walk to Aaron Barnett and punished a 3-2 pitch that just cleared the wall in left. That made it a 5-0 Pepperdine lead. The Waves scored first, bringing in a run on an RBI groundout in the first inning.

The Zags got a run back in the top of the sixth when Tyler Frost hit a solo-home run and then the Zags loaded the bases and chased Pendergast in the seventh. Garcia came in and after a strikeout allowed a run on a hit-by-pitch, but settled down to get a groundout and end the threat to keep the Waves up 5-2. Gonzaga would score in the ninth, getting runners on second and third with the help of a Wave error, but Garcia again got the flyout he needed to end the game and earn his first save of the year.

Quincy McAfee and Barnett had two-hit games in the late contest. Gunnar Schubert was 2-for-4 for the Zags.

In the early game, Wilson and Eli Morgan dueled it out, with both pitchers tossing complete games in less than two hours. Morgan allowed three hits and one run, while striking out five and walking two. Wilson gave up three hits and two runs, while striking out nine batters and walking none.

Pepperdine took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, getting an RBI single from Jordan Qsar. Vieth would come back and put Gonzaga ahead, following a hit-by-pitch with the game-winning two-run homer.

The split moves Pepperdine to 12-13 overall, 2-3 WCC, and moves Gonzaga to 14-12, 6-2 WCC. The teams will play the rubber game tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Malibu. That game can be seen on TheW.tv.