Pepperdine baseball sweeps Northwestern
The Pepperdine University baseball team completed a three-game sweep over Northwestern in a tight game Sunday that went into the bottom of the ninth inning. The No. 21 Waves (16-11) defeated the Wildcats, 4-2, with junior catcher Justin Tellam hitting a game-winning, two-run home run.
Pepperdine’s win on Sunday came after victories over Northwestern on Saturday (10-3) and Friday (8-0).
Senior Paul Coleman (4-1) got the win in Friday’s game. He gave up just four hits in the eight innings he pitched. The victory went to freshman Brett Hunter in Saturday’s contest, who pitched the first game of his college career. And sophomore reliever Jason Dominguez (3-1) took Sunday’s win. He retired the only batter he faced in the game.
Junior Chad Tracy had a .563 batting average for the week, including the series against Northwestern and Pepperdine’s 7-4 win at Cal State Fullerton. The All-American was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week.
His week totals included five runs scored, a double, two triples, a pair of home runs and six RBI. He also posted a 1.250 slugging percentage and a .611 on-base percentage while extending his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
In the game against Cal State Fullerton, Tracy went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI while recording his fourth career two-home run game. He also batted .500 (6-for-12) with three runs scored, two triples and two RBI in the Northwestern series.
In Saturday’s win over the Wildcats, Tracy was 3-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI. Two of his hits were triples.
For the season, Tracy is batting .359 and tops the club with 42 hits and five home runs.
Pepperdine will play against Loyola Marymount in a three-game series this weekend that will begin on Friday at 2 p.m. at LMU’s Page Stadium.
Waves men’s tennis perfect in Texas
The Pepperdine University men’s tennis team was two-for-two in Fort Worth, Texas, defeating Texas Christian on Saturday and UC Berkeley on Sunday.
The wins bring the No.2 Waves to 21-1 on the season.
Playing its intrastate rival in a foreign state, the Waves defeated the Bearcats, Sunday, 5-2.
Pepperdine received wins on courts one and two to win the doubles point. No. 1 Scott Doerner and Andre Begemann defeated No. 58 Conor Niland and Tyler Browne 8-3, while No. 27 Ivor Lovrak and Pedro Rico handed Lennart Maack and Dean Wallace an 8-4 defeat.
In singles, No. 19 Rico beat No. 122 Browne 6-4, 6-4. Maack forced No. 66 Lovrak to a third set, but the senior recorded the win 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Begemann put away Daniel Sebescan 7-6, 6-2, while Omar Altmann defeated Wallace 6-4, 7-6 on No. 6.
The Bears only two points came at court one where No. 11 Niland upset No. 4 Doerner 6-4, 6-3 and on court five where Ken Nakahara defeated Richard Johnson in three sets.
On Saturday, the Waves beat the Horned Frogs, 4-0.
The Horned Frogs picked up the first win in doubles on court three as Jacopo Tezza and Kriegler Brink defeated Richard Johnson and Omar Altmann 8-2, but Pepperdine answered back with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 to win the doubles point. The No. 1 Wave duo of Scott Doerner and Andre Begemann handed No. 33 Rafael Abreu and Jordan Freitas an 8-5 defeat, while No. 27 Rico and Lovrak beat Cosmin Cotet and Andrei Mlendea 8-4.
In singles, No. 66 Lovrak defeated Cotet 6-2, 6-1 at court three, which was followed by a win on court one where No. 4 Doerner put away No. 64 Mlendea 6-2, 6-2. No. 19 Rico clinched the match for the Waves as he easily defeated No. 70 Abreu 6-2, 6-2.
The Waves return home for a three-match home stand on Saturday when they face Harvard in a 1 p.m. match at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
Pepperdine volleyball falls to USC
USC handed the Pepperdine University men’s volleyball team its sixth loss of the year Friday night at the Lyon Center as they swept the Waves (30-28, 30-22, 30-28) in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. For the match, Pepperdine (13-6) committed 27 hitting errors, 13 service errors and hit just .171 in the loss.
Needing a spark to get back into the match, Pepperdine (13-6, 13-6 MPSF) promptly fell behind 6-0 in game three. The troubles would continue to mount as the Waves fell further behind in the game, trailing by as many as nine, 13-4 and 20-11. Still facing a daunting task, down 27-19, Pepperdine got a kill, a block and a kill to trail by five, 27-22. A Trojan (11-14, 7-12 MPSF) kill stopped the run, but the Waves would score consecutive points and trailed by just four, 28-24. Another USC kill gave the home team five swings for the match and they would need them all. A Jon Grobe kill was followed by a block from Tom Hulse and Jonathan Winder, forcing USC into a timeout, 29-26. Andy Hein served up an ace out of the stoppage and Hulse recorded a kill, cutting the lead to just one, 29-28. But it was not to be as C.J. Schellenberg’s final attempt went off the Wave’s block and fell to the floor, completing the sweep.
John Parfitt led the Waves with 16 kills but hit just .194, while Grobe logged 12 kills on .259 hitting. Juan Figueroa’s 17 kills led all players with Schellenberg tacking on 15 to the Trojans.
After leading by as many as three in the early going, Pepperdine would let the home team back into the game committing errors on four of its next six swings, aiding a 6-1 USC run. Out of the team’s first timeout, the Waves would answer with a 6-3 run to take a 19-18 lead. A kill by Figueroa was followed by a Carroll attack error and a kill from Schellenberg capped a 3-0 Trojan run. Pepperdine would retake the lead, 26-25, following a 6-3 run. Out of a timeout, the Trojans capitalized on four Wave miscues and took the game, 30-28.
Pepperdine hit at a higher percentage, .273-.263, but committed five service errors to UCS’ zero. Parfitt recorded seven kills in the game, while Schellenberg led all players with eight.
Early errors in game two put the visitors behind the eight ball from the start. USC would lead by as many as four, 17-13, following a Joao Grangeiro kill and team block of Grobe. The Waves would fight their way back to within one, 17-16, when a Tom Hulse kill was followed by a Parfitt kill and Hulse solo block. But ill-timed errors pushed Pepperdine back into a four-point hole, 20-16. The Wave’s woes would continue for the rest of the game as the visitors never found consistency and fell behind two-games-to-none, 30-22.
The Waves will next be in action on Thursday when it hosts Cal Baptist at 7 p.m. The match will serve as Pepperdine’s lone nonconference match of the regular season.
-Game summaries obtained from Pepperdine Sports Information