Pepperdine Comes Up Short Against Portland in Series Opener

Friday, May 20

Malibu, Calif.

3:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

22-26, 0

Portland

31-19, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Portland	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	5	10	2
Pepperdine	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	7	2

Ryan Johnson

Photo by: Charlie Blake

Pepperdine Comes Up Short Against Portland in Series Opener

5/20/2022 7:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine baseball team came up short against Portland 5-4 in the West Coast Conference weekend series opener on Friday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

The Waves (22-26, 10-15 WCC) fell behind the Pilots (31-19, 17-8 WCC) in the first inning 3-1, but tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning to try and rally for a comeback. Pepperdine then fell short by one run in the top of the seventh inning that ultimately became the game winner for Portland.

BIG WAVES

Junior catcher Ryan Johnson (Tempe, Ariz./Seton Catholic HS) went 2-for-3 on the day with one RBI.
Sophomore infielder John Peck (Moorpark, Calif./Moorpark HS) went 2-for-5 and crossed the plate once. Peck extended his hitting streak to 11 games and his reached base streak to 13 games.
Sophomore outfielder Charles Masino (Newbury Park, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) had one hit on the day and one walk. Masino increased his hitting streak to now seven-games and his reached base streak is now at nine games.
Freshman RHP Bobby Christy (Odessa, Fla./Sickles HS) threw a career-high 5.1 innings in relief. Christy also had a career-high four strikeouts.
Senior RHP Jack Baird (Parker, Colo./Legend HS) tied his career-high four strikeouts.

GAME RECAP

In the top of the first inning, the Pilots scored three runs on three hits to take the lead early at 3-0. In the bottom of the first inning, the Waves took advantage of a Portland error and scored the first run to make it 3-1.

In the top of the third inning, Portland added another run to their lead on a Waves' wild pitch and made it 4-1. Masino led off the bottom of the third inning with a single through the right side and then Peck roped a single through the left side to advance Masino to second. After the Pilots caught Masino stealing at third, Connor Bradshaw (New Rochelle, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling HS) drew a walk that put runners on first and second. Johnson sent an RBI single to left center and made it 4-2 and Michael Winaker (Walnut Creek, Calif./San Ramon HS) followed with a deep sacrifice fly to center field to get the Waves within one at 4-3.

With two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth inning, Johnson smacked a double down the left-field line to advance Bradshaw from first to third, putting Bradshaw in a position to score on a passed ball by the Pilots' catcher to tie the game at 4-4. In the top of the seventh inning, Portland took the lead back at 5-4 on a sacrifice fly to left field.

The Pilots and Waves were scoreless in the final two innings and Portland retired Pepperdine in order on a pop-up, ground ball and a strikeout to collect the win in game one.

UP NEXT

The Waves and Pilots will meet for game two of the WCC series on Saturday, May 21 with first pitch set for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the WCC Network.