MALIBU, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball took game two of a three-game set at Pepperdine 8-6 on Friday, setting up a rubber match for the series on Saturday.
 
Friday's game had some eerie similarities to Thursday's game, with SMC jumping out to leads only to see Pepperdine tie the game on multiple occasions. This time the Gaels took the lead for good in the top of the ninth and stranded two Waves runners in the bottom of the inning to flip the script from yesterday and get the win.
 
The Gaels again struck first, this time with a three spot in the first inning. A Bill Ralston single plus a Waves error to made it 2-0 Saint Mary's. Then Nathan Chong drove in Ralston for a 3-0 lead.
 
The top of the first ended when the home plate umpire said Blake McDonald did not make an effort to move away from a back-up breaking ball that hit him in the elbow. McDonald argued the call and was ejected from the game, and freshman Nathan Kirpatrick would come in to catch.
 
Pepperdine would get one back in the bottom of the second, and two more in the fifth on three-straight hits and a hit by pitch after an intentional walk loaded the bases for a 3-3 game.
 
But in the seventh Christian Almanza singled to left field and scored Cody Kashimoto and Dalton Mashore to put Saint Mary's up 5-3.
 
In the top of the eighth Kirpatrick got his first collegiate hit by handling the bat well on a curveball away that he poked into right. After a Jared Mettam single, the Waves tried a pick off of Kirpatrick that went wild and he advanced to third.
 
Kashimoto would ground out to first, and just like in game one he would plate a run to extend the Gaels lead in the eighth, seemingly giving SMC some insurance as Kirpatrick scored to make it 6-3 Saint Mary's.
 
Connor Linchey continued pitching like the Gaels ace in 2023, working into the eighth while allowing just three runs. He would retire the first two batters in the inning on swinging strikeouts, but a single down the right field line followed by an infield hit would end Linchey's day after a career-high 107 pitches.
 
Freshman Adam Enyart would come into the game with two runners on base still belonging to Linchey. A single to right scored one run to cut it to 6-4 SMC, followed by a wild pitch that allowed runners to move up to second and third.
 
The Gaels intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases before a two-run single tied the game at 6-6. Enyart would get the next batter to pop up to short to keep the Waves from taking the lead.
 
Almanza would come through once more for Saint Mary's, and again went the opposite way, this time with a towering home run to put the Gaels up 7-6. Coleman Schmidt singled and stole second, and on the next pitch after getting into scoring position Nathan Chong drove him in for an 8-6 Gaels lead.
 
Saint Mary's would call on Ryan Taurek to close it out after opening yesterday's game. The Gaels Swiss Army knife got a pair of groundouts to start the inning before a single and a walk for the Waves. But Taurek would strike out the next batter on a 3-2 count for his first collegiate save.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Almanza extended his on-base streak to seven games and his hit streak to six. It was his seventh multi-RBI game of the season, and his ninth multi-hit game of the year.
 
The ejection snapped McDonald's on-base streak at 13 games.
 
UP NEXT
The series finale is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Saturday, April 8.