MORAGA, Calif. – It didn't come easy but Saint Mary's fended off another late surge from Pepperdine as they took the series finale 9-7 to record their first conference sweep of the season. For the third straight game, the Gaels had their starter go five-plus innings to set the tone and today it was thanks to sophomore right hander
John Damozonio. As a result, Damozonio picked up his second win after departing in the sixth with a 9-3 lead.
Aggressive base running led to three early runs for the Gaels and then a three-run home run from freshman
Ian Armstrong gave them a 6-2 lead.
Brady Petit and
Ryan Pierce would record RBI singles in the sixth inning to give the Gaels their largest lead of the afternoon. The Waves would battle back with five runs over the final four innings but
Derik Eaquinto recorded a ground out with the bases loaded in the ninth to end the game and record his second save of the series.
The Gaels are now 5-7 in conference play and leapfrogged Pepperdine and San Francisco over the weekend as they sit in fifth place. Their four-game win streak is the second longest active win streak in the WCC behind San Diego's eight-game win streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED…
2ND INNING
The scoring got started in the second for Saint Mary's after back-to-back one-out singles from
Diego Castellanos and
Jared Mettam. The next at-bat,
Ian Armstrong would bounce a ball to the second baseman but he would throw the ball away into left field attempting to turn a double play. As a result, Castellanos trotted home for the game's first run.
The very next at-bat, sophomore center fielder
Tanner Griffith would get creative and try to lay a bunt down with runners on and one out. Griffith popped his bunt up over the pitcher but he was unable to make the catch, allowing Mettam to score from third. The three-run inning would be capped off by an RBI single from
Eddie Madrigal for his team leading 38th RBI of the season.
4TH INNING
John Damozonio made just his second start of the season and put up a near identical line to his previous start last weekend against San Diego. He finished with 5.1 innings of work, allowing two earned runs off six hits. Damozonio allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth for Pepperdine's first runs of the game but went on to retire six of the next seven batters to maintain the lead.
In the top half of the fourth, the Gaels strung together four straight hits including a big three-run bomb from freshman catcher
Ian Armstrong. Armstrong belted his third homer of the season with a lined shot over the left center fence and leads all freshmen with 20 RBI on the season.
6TH INNING
Another freshman would step up for the Gaels in the top of the sixth as infielder
Brady Petit came off the bench for
Cody Kashimoto and ripped a one-out single into left field, scoring Armstrong from second to extend their lead to 7-2.
The Gaels would tack on another run in the inning thanks to a throwing error from the Waves second baseman and then
Ryan Pierce would rifle a two-out single up the middle to plate Petit, completing another three-run inning. Pierce brings his season RBI total to 28 good for second most on the team.
Despite the consistent scoring from the Gaels offense, a pair of costly throwing errors in the sixth inning would allow Pepperdine to three runs and make it a four-run ballgame. Then, a two-out two-RBI double in the eighth would bring them within two with an inning to play as the Waves mounted another late game comeback.
9TH INNING
Trusty left hander
Garret Plata finished out the eighth inning for the Gaels but head coach
Eric Valenzuela made another big move to the bullpen for the ninth in senior
Derik Eaquinto. Eaquinto has struggled as a starter this season but has gotten some good reps out of the bullpen in recent weeks, including the three-out save in game two on Friday.
Valenzuela and his staff have continued to show trust and faith in the three-year veteran and it paid off again today. Eaquinto made quick work of the first two batters including a strikeout to start the inning. Things would get a little hairy though as Eaquinto gave up a two-out single, then walked and hit the next two batters to load the bases with two outs.
Nonetheless, Eaquinto would induce a ground ball to third the very next pitch as Pierce went the short way to get the out at second and end the ballgame. Eaquinto recorded the second save of his career with both ironically coming in back-to-back games this weekend.
Saint Mary's sealed the deal on their first conference sweep this season and put themselves firmly back in the mix in the WCC standings. As a team, they put up a series high 13 hits including multi-hit games from
Aiden Taurek,
Diego Castellanos,
Jared Mettam and
Brady Petit who came off the bench and went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI. Armstorng led the team with three-RBI thanks to his homer back in the fourth, tying his season high for the third time.
For the first time this season, Saint Mary's had each of their starters in the series go at least five innings and it proved to make a huge difference as each starter came away with the win. The Gaels are back in the mix and have now won seven straight games over Pepperdine in their series history dating back to last season when they swept the Waves in the regular season and defeated them in the first round of the WCC Tournament.
Known to followers of the Saint Mary's baseball program, SMC head coach
Eric Valenzuela graduated from Pepperdine in 2001 and was a three-year member of the Waves baseball program as well as a three-time WCC champion as Pepperdine won three straight regular season titles from 1999-2001. This series sweep was a historic one as the Gaels pulled off their first series sweep in Malibu since 1971 with head coach Floyd Baker at the helm.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's secured their first conference series sweep and improved to 19-19 overall and 5-7 in conference play. They make up significant ground in the WCC standings as they will return home to Moraga next weekend to host LMU starting on Friday, April 25th. Before that series, they will complete their two-game season series with Cal on Monday, April 21st at 6:00 PM. Tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com and you can stream the game live on ACCNX.
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