Apr 6-West Coast Conference baseball teams wrapped up an important weekend of conference action as all eight league teams took the field Sunday afternoon. Pepperdine, Santa Clara, and LMU finished the week with three-game sweeps over San Diego, USF and Saint Mary’s respectively. The Waves claimed a 12-1 win over the Toreros, the Broncos collected their fourth straight win with a 7-3 victory over the Dons, while the Lions rallied in the ninth to down the Gaels 12-11. Gonzaga defeated Portland 9-6 in a 16 inning marathon in the first game of a double-header. The Pilots captured the nightcap with 4-3 win over the Bulldogs.

LMU 12, Saint Mary’s 11
A pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning handed Loyola Marymount its fifth consecutive win and a three-game series sweep of Saint Mary's. Lion freshman James Cooper drove in six RBI, including the tying and game-winner, in LMU's 12-11 victory, at Page Stadium Sunday afternoon. The victory upped LMU's record to 21-12 overall, 8-4 in the league, while the Gaels dropped to 13-19, 4-8 in the WCC. The Lions now stand atop the league's West Division, 1.5 games ahead of San Diego.

Trailing by a run in the ninth, Cooper lined a bases-loaded single to centerfield, scoring Sean Smith and Joe Silva for his second game-winning RBI of the season. Cooper also had the winning knock in LMU's 5-4 victory over Cal Poly on Feb. 21. Cooper led the Lions' attack against the Gaels going 3-for-5, with one of LMU's five doubles. Jonathan Higashi also went 3-for-5 with a double, two runs and a RBI, as Mike Harris, Nick Conte, Tim Spooner and Bryan Byrne all had three hits for the Gaels.

Harris' first home run of the season, in the top of the ninth, gave SMC an 11-10 edge, setting up Cooper's heroics. Conte posted five RBI, while Preston Young also drove in six.

Muecke earned the victory to up his record to 3-2. The junior southpaw allowed just one hit, Harris' home run, in 1.2 innings of work, while striking out one. Lion starter Justin Abreu had another solid outing. The senior allowed just three runs on nine hits in six innings, leaving the game with LMU leading 7-3.

Santa Clara 7, USF 3
The Santa Clara University baseball team completed the sweep of Bay Area rival USF, taking game three of the three-game set from San Francisco by a 7-3 score Sunday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond. The win improved the Broncos' record to 16-19 overall and 8-4 in West Coast Conference action while dropping the Dons' record to 13-22 overall and 6-9 in league play.

The Broncos jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after the top half of the first inning as Scott Dierks got things started off with his 12th home run of the season. The solo shot over the left field fence was his fourth leadoff home run of the season. Jack Headley followed the homer with a double off the left field fence and scored two batters later when Jim Wallace hit a two-run opposite field home run onto Masonic Avenue. Will Thompson then drew a walk and moved up to third base on a throwing error by T.J. Franco on a failed pick off attempt. Thompson scored on the very next play as Michael Thompson, no relation, picked up the RBI with a sacrifice fly out to right field.

San Francisco could not solve Santa Clara pitching, collecting just three hits in the first seven innings. Junior left-hander John Redmond (3-3) earned the relief win, allowing no runs off one hit in 3.0 innings. USF right-handed starter T.J. Franco (1-1) suffered the loss for the Dons, allowing four runs off four hits in 1.1 innings of work.

Kellan McConnell, who is still recovering from Tommy John surgery, had a good outing for the Broncos as the starting pitcher, throwing four full innings in which he allowed no runs on only two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

Jonnie Knoble went 1-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Ryan Hanson went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Dons. Headley led the way for Santa Clara going 3-for-5 with a double.

Pepperdine 12, San Diego 1
Junior right hander Brandon Boesch pitched five scoreless innings to pick up his second win in the span of five days and freshman left fielder Brandon Daguio had a pair of hits, scored twice and collected three RBI to lead Pepperdine to a 12-1 victory over San Diego on Sunday and complete a three-game sweep of the Toreros at Cunnigham Stadium. The win improved Pepperdine 19-14 overall and 9-3 in West Coast Conference (WCC) play and moved the Waves, who have won a season-high five in a row, to five games over .500 for the second time this season. San Diego dropped to 17-21 on the year and 8-7 in conference action.

The Waves broke the game open in the fourth inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate six runs, five of which were unearned. Daguio had a two-run single in the inning, junior first baseman Chris Kelly doubled home a run. San Diego, which committed six errors in the game, surrendered two more unearned runs in the fifth and one in the eighth. Only three of Pepperdine's 12 runs were earned.

That proved to be more than enough run support for the Waves' pitching staff. After pitching eight innings to earn a victory over No. 2 Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, Boesch (5-4) limited San Diego to just three hits in five innings of work on Sunday.

Torero third baseman Freddy Sandoval went 2-for-4, hitting his fifth homerun in the USD sixth for San Diego’s lone run.

Gonzaga 9, Portland 6 - Game 1
Portland 4, Gonzaga 3 - Game 2
Gonzaga jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one of Sunday's WCC doubleheader at Portland but needed some offense in the top of the 16th inning in order to pull off a 9-6 win over the Pilots. Gonzaga improved to 13-15-1, 4-7 in WCC action while Portland dropped to 7-23, 3-8 in the WCC.

The Bulldogs finally broke through after six scoreless extra innings as they loaded the bases against Pilots reliever Trent Kristjanson (1-4). Kristjanson then allowed the first Gonzaga run score in the top of the 16th inning on a wild pitch as Gonzaga went on to win 9-6. The Portland hurler worked seven-plus innings out of the bullpen. Junior center fielder Chris Sinner then connected for his only base hit of the game as he scorched a line drive down the third base line to score two more runs. Eric Dworkis (4-3) worked 7.1 innings of shutout baseball to pick up the win for Gonzaga.

Gordon Corder and Kemp Quakenbush each collected four hits for the Bulldogs, while Rob Seffens went 3-for-7 with two runs scored to lead the Pilots.

In Game 2 Portland bounced back and won the weekend series by taking the final game 4-3 in 13 innings. This game also featured some strong pitching performances, mainly by both starters. Ed Clelland gave the Bulldogs 11 solid innings, tossing 138 pitches and only giving up three runs, two earned. Pilot starter Jared Adams went eight innings also giving up three runs, only one earned. Trevor Hahn pitched the final five innings for the win improving his record to 2-1. Patrick Donovan took the loss in relief and dropped to 1-3 on the year.

Once again the bats went dormant for both teams until the Pilots came to plate in the bottom of the 13th inning. Gustav Little led off with a single and Kory Casto replaced him on first with a fielder’s choice groundout to the first baseman. Travis Vetters singled up the middle but Brock Griffin struck out for the second out of the inning. Rob Seffens atoned for his miscue earlier with a clutch two-out single to center field scoring Casto from second and giving the Pilots the 4-3 win.

Portland finished the game with four runs on 10 hits and left nine on base. Vetters went 2-for-6 with a double, a run scored and one run driven in. Seffens finished with three hits in six at bats and drove in three Pilot runs.

Gonzaga scored three runs on 14 hits and also stranded nine base runners. Jeff Culpepper went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Sam Hess racked up three base hits, including two doubles for the Bulldogs.