PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots collected three hits in the bottom of the ninth with the potential tying run on first base, but the Pepperdine Waves shut the door to close out a 4-2 victory over the Pilots as the teams finished Saturday’s suspended West Coast Conference baseball game.
The Pilots (18-34, 8-15 WCC) opened the frame with a single to center as senior Brian Frattali roped a hit off Michael Swanner. Pepperdine's closer picked up a strikeout before the Pilots collected another single to put pressure on the Waves (26-24, 12-11 WCC).
Zach McCoy looked to have kept the rally going as his fly ball drifted down the left field line. A nice running play by Bryan Langlois resulted in the second out of the inning.
Swanner wasn't out of trouble yet, however, as senior Beau Fraser jumped on a 1-2 fastball to bring a run in. With runners on first and second, sophomore Michael Lucarelli sent a hard grounder to third. Third baseman Austin Davidson made a diving grab and went to second with the forceout to give Swanner his conference leading 13th save.
Pepperdine jumped ahead 4-0 on Saturday by scoring a pair of runs during the second and fourth innings. In the second, Sam Meyer scored on a wild pitch before Drew Hacker laid down a perfect bunt for a suicide squeeze, which scored Aaron Brown.
In the top of the fourth inning, Meyer tallied an RBI double and would later score on a single by Ranny Lowe, giving the Waves the four-run cushion.
The Pilots got a run back in the bottom of the fourth after Caleb Whalen walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored courtesy a single off the bat of Cody Lenahan.
The Pilots missed a golden opportunity in the bottom of the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out. But Pepperdine’s Corey Miller (5-5) induced three straight pop outs to end the threat.
The tarp then came out as the game headed to the bottom of the eighth inning.
Both starting pitchers were solid as Miller held the Pilots to just the one run on five hits. He K’d four and walked two.
Portland sophomore right-hander Kurt Yinger (4-6) also yielded just five hits in 8.0 innings. He struck out seven, while not issuing a walk.
