GAME ONE – #2 PEPPERDINE VS. #3 ARKANSAS
Pepperdine defeated Arkansas 4-3 in the opening round matchup between the 2-seed Waves and the 3-seed Razorbacks. The Razorbacks and Waves traded runs in the second and fourth sending the game to a 2-2 tie heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth the Waves’ Chase D’Arnaud homered to break the tie and the Waves added an insurance run after Nate Simon reached on a fielding error by the first baseman. Simon stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher and was brought home by a Denny Duron single. Arkansas tried to rally in the top of the ninth scoring a run to cut the lead to 4-3 but were unable to score a runner from third with two outs.
Nathan Newman picked up his seventh win the of the season going 6.2 innings giving up two runs. Nick Gaudi picked up his 13th save of the season. Cliff Springston took the loss for the Razorbacks giving up all four Pepperdine runs.
The Waves advance to the winners’ bracket to face 4-seed UC-Davis while the Razorbacks will face top seed and regional host Stanford in the regional’s first elimination game.
GAME TWO – #1 STANFORD VS. #4 UC-DAVIS
Top seed Stanford looked to be in control after scoring the game’s first two runs in the first and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead but a four run seventh inning for the Aggies spelled doom and a trip to the losers’ bracket for the Palo Alto Regional host.
The Aggies started the top of the seventh with a Ty Kelly single followed by a Jake Jeffries walk. Ryan Scoma then singled to score Kelly. After a Kyle Mihaylo ground out to Cardinal second baseman Cord Phelps that advanced the runners to second and third the Cardinal intentionally walked Kevin James. Seven hole hitter Evan Hudson made the Cardinal pay for their decision by doubling down the left field line to plate two runs and put he Aggies up 3-2. Matt Dempsey laid down a sacrifice bunt to score James to give the Aggies a 4-2 lead. The Cardinal went down in order in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings and after a leadoff walk by three hole hitter Jason Castro, cleanup hitter Brent Milleville hit into a 5-3 double play and DH Randy Molina struck out swinging to end the game.
Eddie Gamboa picked up the win for the Aggies pitching a complete game. Erik Davis pitched eight innings for the Cardinal and picked up the loss giving up all four Aggie runs.
The Aggies will now face 2-seed Pepperdine in the winners’ bracket game at 5:00 p.m. PDT. This is the first meeting this season between the two California schools.
Top seed Stanford will face 3-seed Arkansas at 1:00 PDT. This is also the first meeting this season between Stanford and Arkansas.
Pepperdine vs. Arkansas Box Score (PDF)
UC Davis vs. Stanford Box Score
