On a hot windy day Tuesday, the No. 17 Pepperdine Waves took on the No. 3 Cal Poly Mustangs in a important non-conference matchup where the Waves broke out offensively, defeating the Mustangs 11-4 with a season-best 18 hits.
Brad Anderson (sophomore first baseman) went 3-4 with a home run, double and recorded a team-high three RBIs. After a nine-day break, the 30-9 Waves knew they were going to face a tough opponent in the 36-7 Mustangs.
On the mound for the WCC’s No. 1-ranked team was Aaron Brown (junior outfielder/left-handed pitcher) with a record of 8-1 and a 2.39 ERA while Cal Poly sent out Slater Lee, who owned a 3-1 record.
Right off the bat Brown struggled to find the strike zone and labored through a lot of pitches in the first two innings.
Pepperdine ended up getting off to a great start in the bottom of the first after Cal Poly scored one in the top half. Anderson was able to deliver a clutch double plating two for the Waves, which put them up 2-1. Cal Poly followed with a run in the top of the second to tie the game at two.
In the bottom half of the second, Austin Davidson (junior infielder) knocked his first of three hits on the day with a RBI single (3-2). Bryan Langlois (junior outfielder) followed with a RBI single of his own to make it 4-2.
With the Waves in the lead, Brown was pulled and replaced by reliever A.J Puckett (freshman right handed pitcher), who did a marvelous job in limiting the Mustangs to just one unearned run in five innings of work while striking out seven in the process.
“I was just trying to get ahead of the hitters and finish them with the fastball,” Puckett said.
The Waves began to gain momentum after Puckett took the mound and started piling up runs. In the bottom of the third, Pepperdine busted out three runs to make it 7-2 with sophomore outfielder Devin Carter hitting in two of those runs with a single up the middle.
Puckett continued to dominate recording five strikeouts in a row during his outing. Cal Poly managed to score on a error in the fifth (7-3) but that’s all the Mustangs could muster off Puckett.
Despite high wind speeds throughout the day, no ball was hit over the fence until the bottom of the sixth. Anderson connected on a solo homer to left, his third of the year to make it 9-3 Waves.
The Mustangs posed no threats in the final innings as the Waves locked down their 31st win of the season.
“We had good energy and were excited to play this game,” freshman catcher Aaron Barnett said, who had a career-high four hits in the game.
“It’s awesome to see everybody hit and a really good sign,” Anderson said. “We just wanted to get things going right away and we were able to today,”
Pepperdine fell to Long Beach State Wednesday but travel to Loyola Marymount University, who are second in the WCC, for a three game series this weekend.