May 4-Six WCC baseball teams wrapped up an important weekend of conference play on Sunday. Santa Clara salvaged their weekend series versus Pepperdine with a 7-4 win over Pepperdine, San Diego collected a double header sweep of LMU with 4-2 and 11-2 wins over the Lions, while USF put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep over Portland with an 8-4 victory.

Santa Clara 7, Pepperdine 4
Seniors Scot Dierks and Jim Wallace each hit two-run home runs in the seventh inning to power Santa Clara to a 7-4 victory over Pepperdine and salvage the final game of a three-game West Coast Conference (WCC) series Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium. The Broncos improved to 26-24 on the season and 18-7 in WCC play to move to within two games of the Waves (31-17, 19-5) in the conference's Coast Division with six WCC games remaining.

Pepperdine scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-run double by designated hitter Ty Harper to take a 4-3 lead only to see Santa Clara respond with four runs in the top of the seventh against Waves reliever Robert Hobbs (0-1) and take a 7-4 lead.

Santa Clara shortstop singled to lead off the inning and scored on Scott Dierks' WCC-leading 18th home run of the season over the left-center field fence to give the Broncos a 5-4 lead. Hobbs then allowed a one-out single to Jason Matteucci, who came around to score on a two-run blast by Jim Wallace. Sophomore right hander Anthony Rea (1-1) pitched two-thirds of an inning to earn the victory in relief.

Pepperdine brought the tying runs to the plate in the both the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to score against freshman right hander Patrick Overholt, who pitched three innings to earn his ninth save of the year.

The Broncos took advantage of a lead-off walk by Pepperdine starter Brandon Boesch to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. After Will Thompson walked and was sacrificed to second, designated hitter drove in the game's first run with a double to left-center field.

The Waves answered Santa Clara's run with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Senior designated hitter Ty Harper opened the inning with a single and scored on a double to left-center field by junior right fielder Cory Brightwell. Brightwell scored the go-ahead run after being wild-pitched to third and then home.

Boesch helped his cause again in the third inning when he got a double play ball with runners on first and third to end a Broncos' rally.

The Broncos re-gained the lead with two runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. Three consecutive singles by Scott Dierks, Jack Headley and Jason Matteucci produced the tying and an infield groundout off the bat of Jim Wallace scored Headley with the go-ahead run.

Harper led the Waves with three hits and finished the series 9-for-13 with three runs scored, two doubles and six RBI.

The Waves wasted a scoring chance in the bottom of the first inning when they loaded the bases with no outs against Santa Clara left-hander John Redmond. Redmond retired Kelly on a shallow fly ball down the right field line and induced Taylor Klosowski to hit into an inning-ending double play. Pepperdine returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to nationally-ranked Long Beach State for a 6:30 p.m. contest at Blair Field.

USF 8, Portland 4
USF completed a West Coast Conference series sweep of Portland, with an 8-4 victory Sunday at Benedetti Diamond. With the win, USF (22-27, 15-12 WCC assures themselves no worse than a share of the lead in the West Division of the league race. San Francisco takes the season series against the Pilots (9-35-1, 5-19-1 WCC) 4-2 and have swept three of their last four WCC series.

Senior outfielder Jason Howard slapped an RBI single up the middle, scoring freshman infielder Jonnie Knoble who drew a leadoff walk to give USF a 1-0 lead in the first. The Diamond Dons would increase their lead to 3-0 with a two-run third, following a leadoff single by senior outfielder Nick Tarbat, followed by another walk for Knoble. After a sacrifice bunt by sophomore infielder Cy Donald, Howard blooped a two-run double into shallow right field as the Pilots middle infielders collided trying to make a play.

Portland struck for one run in the fourth on an RBI double from junior outfielder Kory Casto. San Francisco responded with three-runs in the bottom half, on a RBI double from Tarbat and a RBI single from Knoble. Junior Armand Gaerlan drove in another run, reaching on a fielder’s choice, staking USF to a 6-1 lead.

Senior right-hander Kevin Rose (5-6) collected his fourth conference win of the season for USF, going 6.2 innings, allowing four runs off six hits. Rose struck out a season-high nine batters, one shy of his career best, also set against Portland in a complete game victory April 7, 2001. It was the 10th career victory for Rose.

After the Pilots rallied for three in the seventh to cut the lead to 6-4, San Francisco responded with two runs in the bottom. Junior infielder Joe Jacobitz slammed a leadoof double down the left field line, followed by a single by junior catcher Ryan Hanson. Junior pinch-hitter Craig Click drove in Jacobitz on a sacrifice fly to center. Tarbat struck again with his second RBI double of the contest, scoring Hanson.

Freshman right-hander Trent Kristjanson (2-7) suffered the loss for Portland, allowing eight runs (seven earned) off 11 hits in 6.0 innings.

Hanson finished 3-for-4, as did Tarbat, who drove in a pair of runs on two RBI doubles. Howard drove in three on a 2-for-5 afternoon.

San Diego 4, LMU 2 – Game 1
San Diego 11, LMU 2 – Game 2
San Diego won both ends of a double header Sunday afternoon, beating LMU 4-2 and 11-2 at Cunningham Stadium. The Toreros upped their record to 26-27 overall, 15-12 in the West Coast Conference, while LMU drops to 22-27, 9-15 in the WCC.

In the first game, the Toreros took an early 2-0 lead, but the Lions fought back as LMU All-American Billy Lockin and Joshua Whitesell scored on RBI singles by Joe Frazee and Jonathan Oller.

But it wasn't enough, as USD scored single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Torero starter Aaron Wilson (4-6) earned the victory, allowing just two runs on six hits in seven innings of work, while striking out four. LMU's Vincent Cordova dropped to 5-5 on the season allowing just three runs in 6.2 IP.

USD once again scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning of game two, en route to the three-game series sweep of LMU. The Lions trailed 5-2 before USD scored six runs in the eighth inning.

Lion starter Justin Abreu allowed five runs on five hits, dropping to 5-3 on the season, while Justin Blaine (3-4) earned the win for the Toreros.

Josh Hansen paced the Toreros at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two homeruns and four RBI in USD’s 11-2 win.