Box Score Follow the Diamond Dons: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM MALIBU, Calif.—A two-run single by
Derek Atkinson was all
Abe Bobb needed as he threw his third career complete game to beat No. 19 Pepperdine 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
"He's capable of doing that and we knew that all year. That's why he's our Friday starter," San Francisco head coach
Nino Giarratano said. "He was sharp today. He got ahead of hitters, he threw his breaking ball for strikes, he limited his pitches, we played good defense."
It was
Abe Bobb's third career complete game as he went the distance after allowing two runs on eight hits with no walks. His only other complete game came at BYU when he allowed one run on eight hits in a 10-1 victory on May 9, 2013.
"I'm really proud of his effort. He had runners in scoring position with runners on base with god hitters up and he made good pitches and got out of it today in the seventh, eghth and ninth. He was our guy today.
Bobb went out for the seventh and gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Caruso and, after a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch, he moved to third with two down. Bobb buckled down and got Moyer to swing and miss to end the inning.
The Dons (18-19, 7-10 WCC) will play the finale of the series against Pepperdine on Saturday with
Christian Cecilio on the mound.
"We're back in it, 1-1, that's all we can ask for, an opportunity to win the series," Giarratano said. "If we win two out of three here, that catapults us into a situation where we are still in it."
Matt Sinatro lead off the inning with a single and two consecutive walks by Matt Maurer loaded the bases for
Nico Giarratano. The freshman shortstop grounded into the 6-4-3 double play but Sinatro scored to give the Dons a 1-0 lead.
Pepperdine tried to mount a two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. Hutton Moyer was hit and it was followed by a single by Austin Davidson to give the Waves runners at first and second with two down but Bobb induced a pop up from Bryan Langlois to end the inning.
San Francisco got a chance to add to the lead in the fifth. The Dons had runners at first and second with one out for
Bradley Zimmer but he flew out to center for the second out. Giarratano came up and walked to load the bases for Atkinson.
The Dons' RBI leader did not disappoint and ripped a single into left to bring home two more and gave them a 3-0 lead.
Maurer came into the game with a 2.03 ERA but the Dons were able to score three runs on five hits and six walks in 6.2 innings off the left-handed pitcher.
Pepperdine got on the board in consecutive innings on solo home runs from Kolten Yamaguchi and Aaron Brown to make it a 3-2 game.
Dons looked for some insurance in the seventh inning when they had runners at second and third with one out but Giarratano struck out and, after a pitching change, got Atkinson to fly out to end the inning.
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