PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second game in a row,
Billy Cook of the Pepperdine baseball team hit two home runs in a 7-5 victory over Portland on Saturday afternoon.
The Waves (15-20, 7-10 WCC) had no hits leading into the seventh, but three home runs in the seventh (Cook,
Aharon Modlin and
Justin Lutes) and a grand slam from Cook in the eighth helped take the lead from the Pilots (20-21, 12-8 WCC).
BIG WAVES
- Senior utility Billy Cook (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer HS) had two hits, and both left the yard. The first home run was the first leg of back-to-back blasts with Aharon Modlin. The second came in the eighth inning with the bases loaded to give the Waves the lead.
- Senior infielder Justin Lutes (Las Vegas, Nev./College of Southern Nevada) hit his second home run of the series in the seventh inning, a towering fly ball to deep right field.
- Senior infielder Aharon Modlin (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) hit the second leg of back-to-back home runs in the seventh, just one pitch after Billy Cook's homer.;
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Portland opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first with an infield single that scored a run. Another single scored two more to give the Pilots a three-run lead through an inning of play.
The Pilots added another run in the third on a sacrifice fly and led 4-0 through three innings.
An RBI single for the Pilots in the sixth extended the lead to 5-0 through six innings.
In the top of the seventh, the Waves got their first hit of the ball game, a deep home run from Cook. Modlin then followed up with a home run of his own on the very next pitch to go back-to-back and get the Waves within three. After a groundout, Lutes hit a ball to deep right field for the third home run of the inning and the third run of the game for the Waves.
Charles Masino (Newbury Park, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) led the eighth inning off with a single into center. Then reached second on an error, which allowed
Quintt Landis (Moorpark, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) to reach base safely.
Wyatt Young (Honolulu, Hawaii/Mid-Pacific Institute) was then hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Cook then stepped up and launched his second home run of the game and his fourth of the series, this one a go-ahead grand slam, giving the Waves a 7-5 lead to complete the comeback.
UP NEXT
The Waves and Pilots meet on Sunday at noon for the rubber match of the series. Catch the action live on the WCC Network.