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Pepperdine defeats Gonzaga 8-5 to claim WCC title
Senior Jared Pitney and junior Rock Mills each hit home runs to help lead Pepperdine to an 8-5 victory over Gonzaga in the decisive game of the West Coast Conference (WCC) Championship Series Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu. The win gave the Waves the WCC title and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. The conference title is Pepperdine's first since 1995, 13th overall and 10th since 1985. The Waves will be making their 19th NCAA Tournament appearance and second in the last three seasons. The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced live by ESPN on Monday beginning at noon. The NCAA Regionals are scheduled to take place May 25-27 at selected sites. Pepperdine improved to 41-16 on the season, while Gonzaga finished its year with a 28-27 mark. Pitney gave the Waves a 2-0 lead in the first inning when he slugged his team-leading 12th home run of the season over the right field wall. Junior Danny Garcia, who had three hits and two RBI on the afternoon, scored on the home run after singling with two outs. Pepperdine increased its lead to 6-0 in the second inning. Senior Dane Ball walked to open the inning and freshman Chris Kelly followed with a double down the left field line to put runners at second and third. Mills then hit a towering three-run home run to give the Waves a 5-0 lead. Danny Garcia's two-out single scored sophomore Ed Montague to up the lead to 6-0. Trailing 7-1 in the sixth inning, Gonzaga scored three times to cut Pepperdine's lead to 7-4 and threatened to tie the score. After allowing just one run and three hits through the first five innings, Waves starter Greg Ramirez (5-3) surrendered four hits, hit a batter and walked a batter in allowing three runs in the inning. Junior left-hander Kevin Beavers relieved Ramirez with the bases loaded and one out and escaped the jam after getting a short fly out and ground ball to end the inning. Ramirez pitched 5.1 innings, allowed seven hits, four runs, walked two and struck out three. Beavers worked 3.2 innings, allowed three hits, an unearned run and struck out one to record his third save of the year. Pitney's home run was the 28th of his career and moved him into a tie for fourth place on Pepperdine's all-time career home list. His two RBI gave him 176 for his career and moved him past current assistant coach Rick Hirtensteiner and into second place on the school's all-time career RBI list.
PEPPERDINE 8, GONZAGA 5
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