Box Score Follow the Diamond Dons: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM MALIBU, Calif.—Pepperdine exploded for eight runs in the fourth and the Dons were unable to recover as they fell 13-2 in the West Coast Conference series opener on Thursday afternoon.
The Dons (17-19, 6-10 WCC) will aim to bounce back on Friday when they send
Abe Bobb to the mound against Pepperdine. The game will be broadcast on TheW.tv.
Houston Hibberd made his first career start and started out shaky but looked as if he might get out of the inning with limited damage. With a run in, runners at first and third and one out, Hibberd got Brad Anderson to pop up to short for the second out. But the Waves put together back-to-back singles from Aaron Barnett and Brandon Caruso to take a three-run lead.
The Dons fired back in the second. After a leadoff single by
Brendan Hendriks and a walk to
Justin McCullough,
Bob Cruikshank double over the righfielder's head to bring home Hendriks and set up second and third with one out.
It was Cruikshank's 11th double of the season. Hendriks went 2-for-4 on the day, which raised his average to .308 on the season.
Matt Sinatro hit a sacrifice fly to right to get McCullough home and the Dons had cut the Pepperdine lead to 3-2.
Hibberd seemed to settle down in the third when he retired the Waves in order but then Pepperdine got into a rhythm. Pepperdine singled three times to begin the inning and took a 4-2 lead. After a walk to load the bases and a strikeout by Austin Davidson, Bryan Langlois singled to bring in another to make it a three-run lead.
Pepperdine would get four more singles in the inning and send 12 batters to the plate in the eight-run, eight-hit fourth inning.
The Dons had a chance to break into the lead when they got the bases loaded with two outs for
Derek Atkinson but he struck out looking to end the inning.
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