FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Denny Duron's arm and bat were key in Pepperdine's 8-8 tie in an exhibition with Long Beach State.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Pepperdine shortstop Denny Duron gunned down Long Beach State’s Brennan Metzger at home plate by for the final out of Saturday’s 8-8 tie between the Waves and Dirtbags at Blair Field.
Long Beach had already scored twice in its half of the ninth when Duron (Shreveport, La./Evangel Christian Academy) scooped a ball hit up the middle by Jonathan Jones. Realizing he had no chance to catch the speedy centerfielder, the senior wheeled around and fired a bullet to rookie catcher Nathan Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS), who applied the tag on Metzger.
Duron’s play was the second defensive gem of the inning. Four batters earlier, Dirtbag catcher John Hill drove a Nick Gaudi (Lancaster, Calif./Paraclete HS) offering to deep right field, where freshman Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) used his entire 6-2 frame to make a jumping catch near the foul pole.
The ball was hit more than deep enough to move Kellen Hoime to third base, and he would later score on a Trever Blood single through the left side, which cut Pepperdine’s lead to 8-7.
Tre Dennis, pinch running for Blood, came around to score the game-tying run on Metzger’s single to center.
Even though Duron’s strike home prevented Long Beach from winning, the final result still felt like a loss in some ways since Pepperdine allowed an 8-3 lead to evaporate over the final three frames.
The Waves appeared to have the game in hand following their top of the seventh, in which they sent eight men to the plate and scored four runs on a series of singles and sacrifice flies.
Sophomore outfielder R.W. Zeller (Milwaukie, Ore./Putnam HS) started the inning by reaching on a throwing error by first baseman Matt Avery, whose underhand toss went behind pitcher Mike Lincoln covering the bag. Consecutive singles by Duron and freshman Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Saugus HS) loaded the bases for newcomer Cody Yount (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Chaparral HS), who plated Zeller on a sacrifice fly to left.
A second straight sac fly off Johnson’s bat scored Duron, who had previously advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then a single up the middle by junior transfer Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Saddleback College) scored Brubaker.
Overall, Pepperdine produced four runs Saturday via the sacrifice fly in addition to executing two sacrifice bunts.
Rooney scored Pepperdine’s final run on senior Bryce Mendonca’s (San Leandro, Calif./Bishop O’Dowd HS) base hit through the left side. Charlie Ruiz came in to pitch the eighth and ninth for the Dirtbags and surrendered just one hit and a walk while striking out two.
Pepperdine’s middle-relief work made Long Beach State’s comeback that much more surprising, since the Waves’ were nearly unhittable from late in the third inning through the sixth.
After the Dirtbags came back a first time to knot the game at 3-3 in the third, seniors Doug Konoske (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) and Robert Dickmann (Woodland Hills, Calif./Notre Dame HS) and freshman Cole Cook (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades HS) each took turns pitching a scoreless inning. Even sophomore Matt Bywater (Thousand Oaks. Calif./Thousand Oaks HS), who gave up those first three runs, finished strong by striking out the side.
Konoske pitched the fourth and picked Derek Legg leaning off first base in facing the minimum three batters that inning.
Dickmann followed in the fifth and was the lone Wave pitcher to retire the Long Beach State in order, getting two Dirtbags to ground out and another to fly softly to right.
Cook, in the sixth, retired his first two batters before issuing a single to Hill and a base on balls to Steve Tinoco. He threw out Legg at first on a high chopper back to the mound.
Long Beach’s second and final comeback started in the seventh against junior transfer Bryce Uhrig (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara City College), whose debut was tarnished by two wild pitches, a pair of walks, a failed pick off that landed in center field. These miscues combined with the Dirtbags’ aggressive base running allowed for two Long Beach runs, which reduced Pepperdine’s lead to 8-5.
Long Beach made it an 8-6 game an inning later after Avery delivered a bases-loaded sac fly to center field.
Pepperdine jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the game, scoring all three runs off Long Beach starter Andrew Gagnon. Freshman Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) – in his first collegiate game and at bat – led off the contest with a double to right center and was bunted over to third by Duron.
Humphries went on to score his first collegiate run on a sac fly to right off the bat of senior outfielder David Harris (Glendora, Calif./Glendora HS).
The Waves’ tacked on two additional runs in the second thanks to an error by Long Beach shortstop Devin Lohman and a triple to right center by freshman Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS), which scored Rooney and Van Amburg.
The two clubs combined for 23 hits as Long Beach pounded out 12 to Pepperdine’s 11; however, the Dirtbags made twice as many errors, 4-2. In fact, only two of the eight runs scored by the Waves were earned.
Long Beach’s Jones had the best individual day of any player from either team, rapping out three hits in four at bats. He also drew two walks, stole a pair of bases and scored two runs.
Long Beach finished the game with five stolen bases.
Duron and Mendonca led Pepperdine with two hits each, and Rooney scored two runs. Gates was the only Wave to produce more than one RBI.
Pepperdine and Long Beach State resume their two-game exhibition series on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Eddy D. Field Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
