MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine baseball team opened up a West Coast Conference series with a win for the second weekend in a row, defeating Saint Mary's 4-0 on Friday afternoon.
Reese Alexiades had two RBI including a home run.
The Waves (10-10, 3-1 WCC) and Gaels (11-10, 1-3 WCC) faced off in a pitchers' duel, as neither team could string anything together until the sixth inning.
BIG WAVES
- Senior outfielder Reese Alexiades (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had two RBI on the day as he drove in the first run of the game on an RBI-groundout and put a ball over the wall in the eighth inning.
- Redshirt-freshman RHP Trevor Hinkel (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral HS) threw a gem, giving up six hits, but never two in a row, over six innings. He struck out three batters and walked four.
- Freshman outfielder Connor Bradshaw (New Rochelle, N.Y./Trinity-Pauling HS) drove in the Waves' other RBI on a double down the right field line.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The two teams participated in a pitcher's duel on Friday, as neither team scored until the bottom of the sixth inning when Alexiades had an RBI-groundout to give the Wave the lead.
Joe Caparis (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) led the inning off with a double down the left field line and was moved to third when
Wyatt Young laid down a bunt. Young reached on the play thanks to a throwing error from the Gaels' pitcher. After a
Ryan Johnson (Tempe, Ariz./Seton Catholic HS) single, Bradshaw doubled down the right field line to score Young from third. Johnson scored on a passed ball, giving the Waves a 3-0 lead through six innings of play.
Hinkel was dealing, giving up six hits in 6-plus innings. He was replaced by
Brandon Llewellyn (Colleyville, Texas/IMG Academy) with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh inning. Llewellyn shut the door on the Gaels in the seventh to preserve the 3-0 lead.
Alexiades gave the Waves some cushion in the eighth inning, as he launched a home run 411 feet into the deepest part of the ballpark, giving the Waves a 4-0 lead.
Saint Mary's threatened in the ninth, as a double gave them a runner in scoring position, but a strikeout from Llewellyn gave the Waves the victory.
UP NEXT
The Waves and Gaels meet up again on Saturday in game two of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.