BSB | Gaels Drop Rubber Match to Waves - SMC California Athletics

Sunday, March 22

Moraga, CA

1:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

12-11, 1-2

Pepperdine

6-17, 2-1

Pepperdine

Saint Mary's

#44 Luis Martin Romero: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 SO

Photo by: Juan Bernabe (@jb.lenss)

BSB | Gaels Drop Rubber Match to Waves

3/22/2026 5:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's baseball team dropped its rubber match with the Pepperdine Waves 7-1 on Sunday afternoon at Luis Guisto Field at Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium.

Senior transfer Jake Hilton (3-1) made his fifth start as a Gael but suffered his first loss of the season, pitching 3.1 innings before departing in the fourth for Cam Staton. The Gaels' potent offense was held to eight hits and just one run, avoiding their second shutout of the season. Eight different players recorded a hit in the game for Saint Mary's (12-11, 1-2 WCC) as sophomore switch hitter Micah Nicholson delivered the Gaels' lone run with an RBI single in the ninth

Pepperdine (6-17, 2-1 WCC) won its second consecutive game over Saint Mary's for the first time since 2021.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jake Hilton retired six of the seven batters he faced through the first two innings, but Pepperdine got the scoring started in the third inning with back-to-back hits to start the frame. A sacrifice fly the very next at-bat would plate their first run of the ballgame and then a two-run home run from Daniel Patterson would cap off a three-run inning for the Waves. Hilton came back out to start the fourth but gave up a solo shot to the first batter he faced, extending the Waves' lead to 4-0. Hilton would depart three batters later and make way for fellow southpaw Cam Staton, who fired in strikes from the jump and was able to get out of the jam to keep the deficit at four runs heading into the bottom half of the fourth.

In the ninth, Saint Mary's strung together back-to-back two-out singles from pinch hitters Ian Josephson and Micah Nicholson. Josephson singled and then took second without a throw, allowing Nicholson's base hit up the middle to score him from second. Cody Kashimoto got one more at bat to try and extend his 15-game hit streak but flew out to left to end the game.

Junior right hander Luis Martin Romero gave Saint Mary's a pair of solid frames in another quality outing. The Arizona native threw 2.1 innings after replacing Staton in the sixth, allowing just two hits and no runs. Romero now owns the team lead with a 2.03 ERA in seven appearances this season. Freshman right hander Jake Nobles completed the top of the ninth in his fifth appearance of the season, allowing just one hit while stringing out one batter in the frame.

GAME NOTES

Eight different players accounted for all eight hits for Saint Mary's
Romero lowered his ERA to a team best 2.03
Cam Staton made his first appearance out of the bullpen for the Gaels and completed 2.1 innings without allowing an earned run
With his pinch-hit single in the ninth, Nicholson is now hitting .400 on the season over his 16 games played
Josephson recorded his sixth career hit on Sunday, recording a pinch-hit single in the ninth
Josephson is now hitting .375 in his 16 at bats this season
Dario Freschi also recorded a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning and is now hitting .458 over his 14 games this season

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Mary's will complete its two-game series with UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday as they host the Gauchos at 4 p.m. PT. They will then hit the road for their first road conference series of the season against the Portland Pilots starting on Friday. Tickets Saint Mary's home games can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets and you can catch all the action live on ESPN+.

Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and X to get all the latest Saint Mary's athletics updates and information.

#GaelsRise