Final Stats

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine baseball team dropped its series opener to Loyola Marymount at home on Friday afternoon, falling 7-3 to the Lions in a West Coast Conference matchup.

The Waves left runners in scoring position in three of the last four innings of the game as they were unable to come up with the hit they needed to rally at home. Pepperdine falls to 17-19 overall, 6-7 WCC, while LMU moves to 25-13, 12-4 WCC.

The visiting Lions had a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but Quincy McAfee (Houston, Texas/Westside HS) came up with a two-out, two-run single to even the game. McAfee was one of six Waves to record hits on the day, with Aaron Barnett (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley HS) leading the way with a 3-for-5 day at the plate.

LMU responded with two runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly and throwing error by the Waves. Only three of the Lions' runs were earned in the game.

Joe Caparis (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out. A popup would end the inning with two runners still on base. Pepperdine left a runner on second in the seventh and runners on first and second in the eighth. After a two-out double off the wall by Matt Gelalich (La Verne, Calif./Bonita HS) in the seventh, Brandon Caruso (Pasadena, Calif./Loyola HS) hit one to the wall that was caught to end the inning, falling just a few feet short of putting the Waves up by one.

LMU put up three runs in the top of the ninth to make it 7-3.

Ryan Wilson (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad HS) took the loss after getting the start, despite giving up just two earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched. Brenton Arriaga also went 5.1 innings for the Lions, giving up two earned runs to move to 5-1 on the year. Codie Paiva picked up the save after tossing 3.2 innings of shutout ball to close the game.

Pepperdine and LMU are back at it tomorrow in Malibu at 1 p.m. That game can be seen live on TheW.tv.