May 12, 2002

Final Stats

Malibu, CA - Ppperdine's Junior right fielder Duke Sardinha went four-for-four with three runs scored and three RBI and senior left-hander Kevin Beavers worked seven innings to help Pepperdine register an 11-4 victory over Saint Mary's Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

The win completed a four-game weekend sweep of the Gaels and increased Pepperdine's lead in the West Coast Conference's (WCC) Coast Division to two games with three to play. The Waves, who moved back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 26, improved to 28-28 on the season and 16-11 in WCC play.

Pepperdine currently holds a two-game lead over Santa Clara (24-29, 14-13), which lost 15-4 at Gonzaga on Sunday. The Waves conclude regular-season play next weekend in Spokane, Washington, when they begin a three-game series against the Bulldogs (25-26, 13-14) beginning on Friday.

While Pepperdine will be at Gonzaga, Santa Clara concludes its conference schedule next weekend with three games at Saint Mary's. The Waves will begin play on Friday with a magic number of two, meaning any combination of Pepperdine wins plus Santa Clara and Gonzaga losses equaling two will give the Waves the division crown.

Pepperdine holds the tie breakers against Santa Clara and Saint Mary's (21-26, 13-14). The Waves would lose in a tie-breaker to Gonzaga, which took two out of three from Pepperdine in Malibu earlier this year and would have won the season series.

The four-game sweep of Saint Mary's equals the Waves' longest winning streak of the season and gave them 11 wins in their last 14 home games.

In Sunday's win, the Waves pounded out 14 hits, including eight for extra bases, to support Beavers (5-5), who scattered 13 hits and allowed three earned runs.

Beavers allowed a Saint Mary's batter to reach base in every inning, but found a way to work out of the jams and frustrate the Gaels hitters, who stranded 14 runners on base.

Pepperdine took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI double by sophomore outfielder Chris Kelly and a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman Simon Ferrer. The Waves added two in the third on a home run by Sardinha and took a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth on a run-scoring double by Ferrer.

Saint Mary's cut the deficit to 5-4 with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. However, a three-run seventh inning and single runs in the eighth and ninth innings increased the Waves' lead to 11-4.

The Gaels will return to West Coast Conference action when they host the Santa Clara Broncos in a three-game series beginning Friday, May 17. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Louis Gusto Field.