Box Score MIAMI – The Pepperdine baseball team got a great offensive output as they defeated Florida International 9-2 to take the series win on Saturday.
Billy Cook, who hit a home run on Friday for the Waves (9-1) got another home run, starting an offensive assault that the Panthers (7-2) could not keep up with.
BIG WAVES
- Junior utility Billy Cook (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer HS) went deep in his second at-bat of the day, picking up his first of two hits on the day.
- Senior infielder Justin Lutes continued his hot streak, going 2-for-3 on the day. He had two RBI-singles in the game.
- Freshman infielder Ryan Johnson (Tempe, Ariz./Seton Catholic HS) got his first collegiate home run, hitting a ball deep to left in the seventh inning. It was his lone hit of the ballgame.
- Sophomore RHP Cooper Chandler (Frisco, Texas/Wakeland HS) threw 5.0 innings, giving up eight hits and two runs. He also struck out six batters.
- Redshirt senior RHP Trevor Franklin (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) came in after Chandler, and threw 4.0 innings of shutout baseball, giving up only three hits.
GAME RECAP
The two teams were evenly matched until the top of the third inning, when Cook took a ball deep to right field and over the fence to give the Waves a 1-0 lead after three.
In the fourth,
Reese Alexiades (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) doubled off the base of the wall to score Lutes, who had walked to lead the inning off.
Mike Malinchak (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage HS) then singled up the middle to score Alexiades and give the Waves a 3-0 lead. The Panthers scored twice in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2 after four.
Aharon Modlin (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) reached on an error with two outs in the fifth and was brought in to score by Lutes. After five innings of play, the Waves led 4-2.
Johnson led the seventh inning off with his first collegiate home run, a ball hit deep to left field, clearing the fence. Cook then singled and reached third on an error. After Lutes walked to put runners on the corners, Alexiades hit a single to right field that scored Cook. Lutes was then brought in on a
Joe Caparis (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) single to give the Waves a 7-2 lead after seven innings of play.
The Waves got their final two runs in the eighth inning, when after
Grant Schoen (Clackamas, Ore./Clackamas HS) walked and stole second, and Cook walked, Modlin singled to left to score Schoen. Lutes then knocked in Cook to give the Waves the 9-2 lead that would prove insurmountable.
After giving up two runs in the fourth, Chandler did not give up any more runs, putting up 5.0 innings of solid work, striking out six batters in the process. Franklin then came in and pitched nearly perfect baseball, giving up just three hits over four innings in long relief
UP NEXT
The Waves and Panthers conclude the series on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 9 a.m. PT.
