MALIBU, Calif — Maybe it was the luck of the Irish coming in the form of the green St. Patrick’s Day hats being worn by Pepperdine?
Down to their final out, the Waves (10-9, 2-1) got a game-tying home run from Kolten Yamaguchi and a walk-off single from Drew Hacker three batters later to defeat Loyola Marymount 4-3 and take the opening West Coast Conference series Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
Loyola Marymount (8-12, 1-2) took a 3-0 lead against Pepperdine starter Aaron Brown in the third inning. Matt Lowenstein singled home a run after Brown walked two batters. Following a fielder’s choice, Colton Plaia doubled to right-centerfield to bring home two more runs.
Pepperdine got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Chris Amezquita hit a two-out solo home run to left field. The Waves scratched out a run in the fifth inning with the assistance of a wild pitch after two infield singles and a sacrifice bunt.
After two hitless innings of relief by Carlos Fuentes, Dahlson got the first two batters to pop out, but his first pitch to Yamaguchi was a high fastball that Yamaguchi roped on a line just over the wall in right field.
Ranny Lowe walked and Cody Nulph reached when a high throw from shortstop David Edwards pulled Cullen Mahoney off the base, setting the table for Hacker. The sophomore second baseman lined a 2-2 pitch right back up the middle and Zac Fujimoto’s throw was up the third base line, allowing Lowe to slide in with the winning run.
Check out the 22-shot photo gallery from Sunday’s thrilling rubber match:
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