Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Pepperdine baseball team had a hard fight in Santa Barbara, as they fell to UC Santa Barbara 3-2.
Cooper Chandler had a stellar day, making only one mistake in the sixth inning.
The Waves (3-5) outhit the Gauchos (7-2) 6-3, but the Gauchos' three hits proved to be the edge they needed to take home the victory in game one of the series.
BIG WAVES
- Junior infielder Quincy McAfee (Houston, Texas/Westside HS) went 2-for-4 on the day, including an RBI single in the third to give the Waves their only lead of the game.
- Junior infielder Aharon Modlin (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) had the Waves only other RBI, going 1-for-3 with an RBI groundout.
- Sophomore starter Cooper Chandler (Frisco, Texas/Wakeland HS) went 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER and 2 K.
GAME RECAP
The Waves broke through to score first. In the third inning,
Aharon Modlin led off with a double down the left field line. After he was moved over by a
Wyatt Young ground ball to the right side of the infield. Then on a 1-2 pitch, McAfee hit a ball through the right side to score Modlin from third and give the Waves a 1-0 lead.
The Gauchos were quiet until the sixth inning when Eric Yang hit a two-run home run over the left field wall to give the Gauchos a 2-1 lead.
A pitchers duel from first pitch, Chandler was phenomenal all day, throwing five innings of 2-hit baseball before the Gauchos scored their first two runs in the sixth. The Gauchos' Ben Brecht was extremely solid as well, just giving up the one run on four hits through six innings of work.
The Waves evened the game up in the seventh inning, starting with a leadoff double from McKinnon. He was moved to third on a one-out single from pinch-hitter
Billy Cook. Modlin came up with one out and hit a ball off the pitcher's glove for an RBI-groundout, tying the game at 2-2 after six and a half innings.
The Gauchos re-took the lead in the bottom of the eight inning after a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. The Waves threatened in the top of the ninth, with runners on first and second, but could not push a run across, falling to the Gauchos.
UP NEXT
The Waves take on the Gauchos again on Saturday, this time at home for the first home game of the year. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.
