Junior righthander Dan Haren hurled a complete game five-hit shutout on Friday night, helping No. 11 ranked Pepperdine defeat Fresno State by a final score of 4-0 in an opening round game of the Los Angeles Regional hosted by USC at Dedeaux Field.

The Waves, 42-16, advance to a winners' bracket game on Saturday afternoon against the host Trojans, 40-17, beginning at 3 p.m.

The game figures to match-up two of the top pitchers at the collegiate level--Pepperdine's Noah Lowry against USC's Mark Prior.

Haren demonstrated why he was tabbed the West Coast Conference "Player of the Year" as he improved to 11-3 on the season, contributed an RBI double and figured in a key defensive play.

Pepperdine struck first in the second inning when senior first baseman Jared Pitney connected for a solo home run, his 13th round-tripper of the season. Junior catcher Rock Mills and sophomore third baseman Ed Montague opened the third inning with back-to-back singles. Following a sacrifice bunt by junior centerfielder Woody Cliffords, junior shortstop Tony Garcia lofted a sacrifice fly to rightfield that plated Mills for the game's second run. Pepperdine capped its scoring with two more runs in the fourth inning. Pitney reached base on an error and came around to score on an RBI double by Haren. Senior rightfielder Dane Ball followed with his own RBI double to push the Pepperdine lead to 4-0.

That was all the offense Haren needed, as he consistently got ahead of Fresno State hitters and mixed his pitches effectively. Haren walked only one batter and recorded five strikeouts.

It marked the first time that Fresno State had been shutout since last May. The Bulldogs opened the sixth inning with consecutive singles, but Haren induced a 3-6-1 double play to snuff the rally.

Pepperdine has won 22 of its last 26 games dating back to April 6, and the Waves face a pitching-rich USC ballclub that is the No. 3 seed nationally in the 64-team tournament. Pepperdine and USC split its two games during the regular season.

The Trojans opened Los Angeles Regional action with a decisive 12-4 win over Oral Roberts.

Fresno State and Oral Roberts will battle in an elimination game tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m. The winner will advance to a 7 p.m. contest against the loser of the Pepperdine-USC contest.

The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at noon, with a second game, if necessary, slated for 4 p.m.

The Los Angeles Regional winner will advance to next weekend's best-of-three Super Regional against the winner of the South Bend Regional hosted by Notre Dame.