May 8, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Pepperdine scored five runs in the first inning and completed a three-game West Coast Conference series sweep with a 9-5 victory over Portland Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. Donald Brown belted a three-run homer in the first and Adrian Ortiz added a pair of RBI to lead the Waves (30-17, 16-7 WCC), while Jesse Rodgers tallied his first career four-hit game for the Pilots (14-32, 5-19 WCC).
With the sweep, Pepperdine pulls within one game of San Francisco for first place in the West Division. USF was rained out on Sunday and will attempt to sweep Santa Clara on the road on Monday.
Portland has now dropped seven straight after taking two-of-three from WCC rival San Diego two weekends ago.
The Waves entered the game with just 10 hits through the first two games of the series, but wasted little time in jumping on UP starter Josh Roberts. Pepperdine racked up seven first-inning hits bits before a double play stopped the barrage. In addition to Brown's three-run blast, Steve Kleen drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Nick Kliebert singled home the fifth run of the frame.
The Pilots got one back in the bottom of the first as Rodgers singled and later scored on a Matthew Peters groundout. Portland pulled within 5-4 with a three-run third inning as Rodgers again started the rally with a leadoff single. A two-out hit by pitch and walk loaded the bases and freshman left fielder Cory Wiltshire came through with a two-run single to right. Fellow freshman Riley Snell followed with an RBI-single to make it a one-run game.
Pepperdine responded with a two runs in the fourth as Ortiz doubled home one run then scored on a fielding error by Rodgers.
The teams traded runs in the eighth and Pepperdine tacked on one more in the ninth for the final tally.
Freshman righty Barry Enright (6-1) earned the win for the Waves. Enright went 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out four. Steve Kleen recorded the final four outs for his WCC-leading 11th save. Roberts (0-6) took the loss, scattering 10 hits and six earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. Pilot sophomore Sean Sargent pitched the final 5.1 innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run.
David Uribes finished the day 3-for-5 with a run scored and Ortiz scored twice in addition to driving home two for the Waves. Rodgers raised his batting average to a team-leading .310 with his 4-for-4 day at the dish.
Portland will next face Washington in a non-conference game at Joe Etzel Field on Tuesday, May 10 at 3 p.m.
GAME NOTES: UP senior catcher Joe Watson left the game in the middle of third inning after taking a ball off of his facemask ... UP infielder Andrew Wrisley singled in the sixth inning, giving him a hit in 14 of the last 15 games ... the Pilots now have three players batting above .300: Jesse Rodgers (.310), Jason Krohn (.305) and Wrisley (.304) ... the teams combined for 22 hits in the first two games of the series, but had 24 combined hits on Sunday.