PHOENIX, ARIZ. - The Pepperdine baseball team could not hang on to an early lead in the 13-3 loss against GCU Tuesday night at Brazell Field.
 
The Waves (3-10) jumped out to an early lead in the second inning but after the Lopes responded (8-4) Pepperdine failed to score again until the ninth inning as GCU piled it on in the 13-3 loss. 
 
BIG WAVES
 
Freshman catcher Esteban Sepulveda (Lancaster, Calif.) had four hits on four plate appearances, raking in two RBIs.
 
Senior outfielder Luke Pemberton (Boulder, Colo.) had the third RBI on the night, hitting .500 on the night.
 
RECAP
 
Pepperdine took the lead early in the second inning. Seniors Julian Nunez and Nick Upstill singled, putting runners at the corners. After Upstill stole second, both players were in scoring position for Sepulveda to knock them in with a single up the middle.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, GCU tied it up with two runs on three hits, including a solo home run. The following six innings were quiet for Pepperdine and despite six hits, none resulted in runs scored. In the bottom half of the innings, the Lopes were tacking on runs and an explosive fifth inning gave them a 12-2 lead. Tacking one more on in the sixth, GCU led 13-2 with three innings to go.
 
On his fourth hit of the night, batting a perfect 1.00, Sepulveda singled to open the ninth inning, advancing to second on a wild pitch to put him in scoring position. With our only extra base hit of the night, Pemberton hit a double up the middle to score the freshman, giving the Waves 3 runs.
 
With no added scoring, the game ended with a final of 13-3.
 
NEXT
 
The Waves travel two hours south to face Arizona in a four-game weekend series, starting Thursday at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats can be found at  www.pepperdinewaves.com.