May 29, 2004

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Los Angeles, Calif. - Pepperdine scored six runs in the eighth inning to take game two of the 2004 West Coast Conference Baseball Championship Series, defeating Loyola Marymount 12-10 Saturday afternoon at Page Stadium.

The Lions scored ten runs through the first six innings, but could not hang on to the advantage, dropping the second game of the best-of-three series for the conference title and automatic berth to the NCAA Baseball Championship.

Playing the neutral postseason game, LMU had the opportunity to get on the scoreboard first and took advantage, scoring two in a reversal of Friday's game one. All-WCC second-team selection Joe Frazee started things for the Lions with a double to right field. Higashi followed with a single up the middle to score Frazee from second.

Senior Clint McGill drew the walk from Pepperdine starter Jacob Barrack just before James Cooper singled down the left field line to load the bases in the first. Chris Pettit took Barrack's second walk of the game to bring in Higashi for the 2-0 lead. The two-run first mirrored yesterday's two-spot posted by Pepperdine in the top of the first of game one.

The Lions added a run in the top of the second when Higashi put up a sacrifice fly that scored Lockin from third to give LMU the three-run advantage.

Pepperdine's Steve Kleen made it a 3-2 game with a two-run shot over the Blue Monster in the bottom of the third.

The Waves tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when they scored on two doubles by Cory Brightwell and Taylor Klosowski.

LMU responded in the top of the fifth when McGill and Cooper put up back-to-back hits and Pettit drew his second walk of the day to load the bases. LaMonda brought them all in with a shot to left that went off the glove of leftfielder Luke Salas, allowing Pettit to also score on the play. The freshman's first hit of the game made it a 6-3 LMU lead.

Frazee, who had already put up two doubles on the game, connected for his second long ball of the season that sailed over the 365 sign on the Page Stadium wall to make it 7-3. That started the traditional big-scoring sixth inning for the Lions, who posted three more runs in the inning when Pettit also hit his second homerun of the season to score Higashi and McGill.

The Lions, now outscoring conference opponents 55-14 in the sixth inning on the season, saw Pettit and Frazee hit their homeruns on the same day for the second time this season. Each had hit his first of the season in the Sunday doubleheader at Saint Mary's on May 9.

Pepperdine cut it to a four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh when Kleen's double to leftcenter and Tracy's single through the left side scored two for the 10-6 game.

But it was the eighth inning that earned the WCC title for the Waves, as Pepperdine scored six runs on five hits to take the 12-10 lead. Three consecutive singles gave the Waves their first run, and Kleen made it three with a two-RBI shot to leftcenter. A walk and a single to right brought in the final three runs for the Waves.

The Lions, facing Kleen who moved from first base to the mound, could not regain the advantage and dropped the contest 12-10.

All-WCC second-team selection Jeff Stevens went seven innings before giving way to Kevin Jenson, Gabriel Bueno, McGill, and Will Quaglieri out of the bullpen during the eighth.

"Stevens has done a great job for us all year," Higashi said. "I had no doubt that he could go out there and pitch as well as he did. This time it just didn't work out for us. We always felt that we were in the game. We had confidence in our players, and we were not going to doubt our abilities or what we can do. No matter what they put up there, we knew we could out-score them, continue hitting, or we could make that pitch. We just ran out of innings."

McGill, who was on the mound when the Waves tied the game at 10, took the loss for LMU and fell to 1-1 on the season. Pepperdine reliever David Smart (1-0) received the win in just his sixth appearance on the season.

The Lions got strong offensive performances from Pettit and Frazee, who combined for a 5-for-8, five RBI effort at the plate. Higashi went 2-for-4 with two RBI.

"Today, we obviously hit the ball and competed well," Head Coach Frank Cruz said. "In college baseball this stuff happens every so often, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of it today. It was a tough loss and our guys battled like crazy. Pepperdine did well and stayed in the game. It was a very tough game."

This weekend's series at Page Stadium marked the third time in six seasons that LMU earned the right to host the conference championship. The Lions took the best-of-three series from the Waves in both 1999 and 2000.

With today's win, Pepperdine claims the 2004 WCC title and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Baseball Championship. The Lions now await word on the possibility of a postseason, as ESPN2 will air the announcement of the 64 team bracket on Monday, May 31 at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (9 a.m. Pacific time). The Lions made a strong case for an at-large bid with their 32-22-1 overall record and splits with several other possible NCAA participants including USC, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Barbara.

-GO LIONS-