Pepperdine Holds On to Victory Over UConn in Game Three

Sunday, March 13

Malibu, Calif.

1:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

9-6

UConn

11-2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Connecticut	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	0	5	9	2
Pepperdine	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	0	X	6	11	1

Mike Malinchak

Photo by: Charlie Blake

Pepperdine Holds On to Victory Over UConn in Game Three

3/13/2022 4:58:00 PM | Baseball

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By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine baseball team held on for a 6-5 victory against UConn, on Sunday in the final non-conference weekend series of the season.

The Waves (9-6) and Huskies (11-2) went back and forth throughout the game, but two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh helped Pepperdine secure the win. UConn took the series 2-1.

BIG WAVES

Graduate student outfielder Mike Malinchak (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage HS) went 3-for-4 and crossed the plate twice.
Freshman infielder Devon Walczykowski (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Jesuit HS) went 2-for-4 and scored one run.
Freshman infielder Cam Conley (Lincoln University, Pa./Malvern Prep) went 2-for-4.
Junior catcher Ryan Johnson (Tempe, Ariz./Seton Catholic HS) had one hit and two RBI.
Sophomore infielder John Peck (Moorpark, Calif./Moorpark HS) had the Waves' only double of the game and two RBI.
Graduate student RHP Dane Morrow (Malibu, Calif/Oaks Christian HS) threw 6.0 innings and struck out four batters. Morrow collected his second win of the season.

GAME RECAP

In the bottom of the second inning, Malinchak led off with a single to right field. After Malinchak advanced to second, UConn made an error at first base to put Greg Mehlhaff (Gresham, Ore./Clackamas HS) on and Malinchak scored to give Pepperdine an early 1-0 lead. The Huskies answered back in the top of the third inning with a home run to left field to tie the game at one apiece.

The Huskies scored a run on a Waves' wild pitch to take the lead at 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Pepperdine took advantage of a two-out rally. After back-to-back singles by Malichak and Walczykowski, Mehlhaff drew a walk to load the bases for Johnson. Johnson hit a single into left field that scored two runs to make it 3-2.

Quintt Landis (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to left. Another error by the Huskies landed a Waves' runner on first. With no outs, Peck hit a double to right center scoring two more runs to increase the Pepperdine lead to 5-2. Connor Bradshaw (New Rochelle, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling HS) hit a sacrifice fly deep to right field to score the sixth run, which made it 6-2 and ultimately resulted in the game-winning run.

UConn answered back in the top of the eighth inning with a three-run home run to left field to get within one at 6-5. Pepperdine was able to get out of the inning only giving up the three runs. In the final inning, the Huskies had the game-tying run on third base with no outs after a lead-off double and a wild pitch. Grant Georges (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS) closed out the inning with a strikeout, a foul pop up to first and a ground ball to first base, to complete his fourth save of the season.

UP NEXT

The Waves open West Coast Conference play in a weekend series against San Diego. Game one is scheduled for Friday, March 18 with first pitch set for 3 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the WCC Network.