MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine baseball team completed its sweep of the first home series on Sunday, defeating Akron 7-1. Trevor Kniskern threw six innings and struck out nine.

The Waves (7-0) trailed the Zips (0-5) in the first inning, but took the lead and didn't let Akron get back into the game.

BIG WAVES

• Junior utility Billy Cook (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer HS) went 3-for-5 on the day, including a solo home run. According to Trackman, his home run went 421 feet, left the bat at 111 mph and had a 30 degree launch angle.
• Junior infielder Aharon Modlin (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) went 3-for-4 and drove in one run. He raised his season batting average to .448.
• Sophomore RHP Trevor Kniskern (Lighthouse Point, Fla./Pompano Beach HS) threw six innings of three-hit ball. He struck out a career-high nine batters and gave up just one run in the first inning.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Akron got on the board first, after a double and a single into left. The Zips took their first lead of the series and led 1-0 after one inning.

The Waves tied the game up in the second. Justin Lutes (Las Vegas, Nev./College of Southern Nevada) singled to the shortstop, who made a throwing error that allowed Lutes to advance to second. He moved to third on a balk, and was brought in to score on a Mike Malinchak (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage HS). Pepperdine and Akron were tied at one after two innings of play.

In the third, the Waves loaded the bases after Ryan Johnson (Tempe, Ariz./Seton Catholic HS) walked and was moved to second on a Wyatt Young (Honolulu, Hawaii/Mid Pacific Institute) bunt single. Johnson and Young moved positions after a Cook single. Johnson scored on Modlin's single through the left side, and Young scored on a sacrifice fly from Reese Alexiades (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS). Pepperdine took a 3-1 lead after three innings.

In the fifth, Modlin got his second hit of the ball game, singling through the right side. He moved to third on an Alexiades single. After Alexiades got in a rundown, Modlin took home. Alexiades then got back safely to first. After five innings, The Waves led 4-1.
Cook hit a deep ball over the netting in left field in the sixth inning to give the Waves a 5-1 lead.

The Waves got two runs in the eighth inning, both by wild pitch. The first was scored by Johnson, who hit a single and was moved to third by a Cook double. Cook then scored on another wild pitch to give the Waves a 7-1 lead.

After Kniskern gave up the lone run in the first inning, he retired the next 12 batters he faced, striking out nine of them. He was relieved in the seventh by Dane Morrow (Malibu, Calif./Oaks Christian HS), who gave up a single and a walk, but got through unscathed. Both Nathan Diamond (Oak Park, Ill./Oak and River Forest HS) and Jack Baird (Parker, Colo./Legend HS) put up perfect frames to end the game.

UP NEXT
The Waves are back in action on Wednesday, taking on #13 UCLA in Los Angeles. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.