Pepperdine’s pitching staff has amassed a nice little scoreless innings streak. Find out how long it has lasted.
A lot of close matchups in the Big West as Long Beach State at Cal State Northridge and Hawai’i at UC Santa Barbara both had late comebacks while Cal State Fullerton/Wichita State came down to the ninth inning.
All of that plus more in a roundup of all of Saturday’s Southern California college baseball action with photo galleries from Cal State Northridge/Long Beach State and UC Irvine/UC Riverside:
Pepperdine 1, Portland 0
Pepperdine (19-7, 6-2) hasn’t allowed a weekend run the last 33 innings after Jackson McClelland, Chandler Blanchard and Eric Karch combined for a four-hit shutout against Portland (5-21, 0-8) on Saturday.
Aaron Brown was 3-for-4 and scored the game’s only run on a Devin Carter groundout in the fourth inning. Caleb Whalen had two hits, including a sixth-inning triple, but he was left stranded by McClelland.
Here’s Pepperdine’s highlights from the school:
Long Beach State 4, Cal State Northridge 3
Cal State Northridge (11-16, 0-2) turned over a 3-1 lead to closer Shay Maltese in the eighth inning, but Long Beach State (13-12, 2-0) rallied. The Dirtbags scored three times, on a Garrett Hampson double, Richard Prigatano triple and a Michael Hill sacrifice fly, and held on for a 4-3 victory to take the series.
Hampson finished 3-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and his first career homer. Ryan Millison picked up the win with three hitless innings of relief while Kyle Friedrichs picked up his fifth save. Though he got a no decision, Northridge starter Brycen Rutherford was strong once again: 7 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 6 K.
Check out the top photos from Saturday’s action at Matador Field from CBD photographer David Cohen:
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#26 UC Santa Barbara 8, Hawai’i 7,
The Gauchos (19-4, 1-1) held on for an 8-7 win despite seeing an 8-1 lead get chipped away after starter Austin Pettibone (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) exited the game. Hawai’i had its chances late. The Rainbows (13-13, 1-1) loaded the bases in the eighth inning, but had the inning end when a runner was hosed at the plate trying to tag on a flyout to centerfield.
In the final frame, Hawai’i cut the lead to one on an infield single and had the tying and go-ahead runs aboard, but UC Santa Barbara closer Dillon Tate was able to get a flyout to end the game and collect his sixth save.
Joey Epperson is ridiculous. He went 4-for-4 with two runs, a pair of doubles, two RBI and his 10th stolen base of the season (without being caught stealing). Once again, Epperson is hitting .500 on the season.
Robby Nesovic and Tyler Kuresa also had two RBI for the Gauchos while the Rainbows got four hits from Marc Flores and three from Adam Hurley.
Arizona State 8, #14 UCLA 5
For the second day in a row, neither starter pitched well for Arizona State or UCLA, but the Sun Devils (14-11, 4-4) were able to even the series with an 8-5 win thanks to a five-run fourth inning.
UCLA (16-9, 6-2) responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning and also answered Arizona State’s single run in the sixth inning, but the Bruins could never get over the hump.
Trever Allen was 3-for-5 with a homer while Jake Peevyhouse was 3-for-5 with three doubles, two runs and two RBI. Kevin Williams led UCLA with his own 3-for-5 day.
San Diego at San Francisco (POSTPONED)
The Toreros and Dons were rained out on Sunday. The two teams will try to make the game up on Sunday as part of a doubleheader with the first game beginning at noon and the series finale slated to start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
Wichita State 3, #11 Cal State Fullerton 2
A walk and a hit by pitch set up Tanner Dearman’s walk-off single in the ninth inning to give Wichita State (15-10) a 3-2 victory to even the series with No. 11 Cal State Fullerton (14-9).
Phil Bickford started and pitched well for the Titans, allowing eight hits, but just a Casey Gillaspie two-run homer, in 6.2 innings. He struck out nine. Again without offensive leader Matt Chapman (ankle), Fullerton managed just four hits. J.D. Davis knocked an RBI double in the first inning and Greg Velazquez tied the game, 2-2, in the third inning with a solo homer.
Besides those two hits, Cale Elam was lights out for the Shockers. He pitched a complete game, striking out eight and walked only one. Gillaspie finished a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk and the two-run homer. Dearman had two hits, walked once, scored a run and drove in the game-winner.
UC Irvine 4, UC Riverside 2
Elliot Surrey didn’t allow an earned run in 6.2 innings to propel UC Irvine (18-8, 2-0) to a 4-2 victory to clinch the weekend series with UC Riverside (11-12, 0-2).
Anteaters head coach Mike Gillespie talks about Surrey gaining confidence, Connor Spencer’s hitting and the addition of Jonathan Munoz in the lineup:
After Irvine scored an unearned run in the third inning, UC Riverside responded with a pair of its own in the fourth inning. A dropped flyball that would have ended the inning brought Thomas Walker to the plate and he lined one up the middle to put the Highlanders up 2-1.
The ‘Eaters got the run back in the bottom half thanks to Taylor Sparks. Irvine’s big bopper worked a full-count walk to lead off the inning. Then Sparks showed off his wheels, tagging from first on a deep fly to centerfield to move into scoring position and coming around on Jerry McClanahan’s single to short left field.
After Spencer lined a single up the middle to put Irvine ahead in the fifth inning, Sparks capped the scoring with an RBI double off the left-centerfield wall. Spencer finished 2-for-4 with and RBI while Sparks reached three times: 1-for-2, R, 2B, RBI, 2 BB.
Zach Varela didn’t pitch poorly for Riverside, but he took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits and three walks in 6.1 innings. Head coach Doug Smith talks about Varela’s outing and his team’s recent offensive struggles:
Sam Moore pitched the final 1.1 innings for UC Irvine to collect his nation’s best 11th save of the year.
Here’s the top photos from the SoCal matchup from CBD photographer Shotgun Spratling:
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Washington 19, USC 4
The Huskies (19-5-1, 7-1) absolutely throttled USC (13-12, 3-5) to take a big road series win. Washington knocked 25 hits and scored in every inning. The Huskies were led by Brian Wolfe’s MONSTER game. Wolfe blasted a pair of three-run homers on his way to a 4-for-6, 4 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI day.
Gonzaga 10, Loyola Marymount 3 (Game 1)
Gonzaga jumped all over LMU ace Colin Welmon, tagging him for 10 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits in 5.1 innings. Jimmy Sinatro was 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI for the Bulldogs. Caleb Wood and Sam Brown had two hits and two RBI each. Wood also homered.
Gonzaga 0, Loyola Marymount 0 (Game 2 – LATE)
Loyola Marymount (15-11, 5-2) at Gonzaga (10-14, 6-1) — Live Stats
San Diego State 0, Fresno State 0 (LATE)
Fresno State (15-11, 5-5) at San Diego State (20-6, 6-4) — Live Stats
