The Diamond Dogs held Pepperdine scoreless all the way until the 9th inning before a late rally from the Waves, defeating Fresno State 2-1.
Key players
Drew Townson: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K (73 P)
Barclay Ovalle: 1-for-3, R
What happened
The Bulldogs opened the bottom of the first with a pair of base runners via a hit-by-pitch to Owen Faust and a Jett Ruby walk, but both were left stranded.
Two innings later, Barclay Ovalle singled into shallow center. Faust followed with a five-pitch walk. After a sacrifice from Ruby, Griffen Sotomayor grounded out to first base. It was deep enough to allow Ovalle to score though, getting the Dogs on the board.
For the Waves, they could get nothing going against Fresno State starter Drew Townson. Their second hit off of Townson came in the top of the fifth, a leadoff single from James DellAmico. Two batters later, Kai Laxa reached on a throwing error from Faust. Neither run would score though.
Townson stranded a pair of runners again in the sixth before his night ended, striking out five over six shutout innings. He was relieved by lefty BJ Rodriguez who walked and hit a batter before retiring the next three batters. Marcus Nolen led off the bottom half with a single but the Bulldogs were unable to add on the insurance run.
Wyatt Thornbury relieved Rodriguez in the eighth, throwing a 1-2-3 inning against the middle of the Pepperdine order. Thornbury came back out in the ninth but back-to-back hits to DellAmico and Max Aude put runners in scoring position with no outs.
The Waves tied the game on a sac fly from Joe Cardinale. Zach Woodson followed with a single to right to take the lead 2-1. Pepperdine loaded the bases with a walk and a single before Thornbury stopped the bleeding.
Freshman Mikey Boyd pinch hit to lead off the bottom of the inning, reaching on a hit-by-pitch. Mikey Pickett pinch ran for him and immediately stole second. Waves closer Lucien Wechsberg would strike out both Sky Collins and Nolen though before inducing a fly out from Austin Young.
What’s next
Game 2 of the series resumes tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 p.m. with sophomore Tyler Patrick (4.2 IP, 4 ER, 2 K) scheduled on the mound. The Clovis West alum looks to rebound after allowing four runs during the second inning of his first start. Patrick leads all Bulldog returners with 38 innings pitched in 2025 (4.26 ERA, 27 K).
The Waves will turn to lefty Collin Valentine (4.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 K). Valentine is 3-7 with a 6.34 ERA for his collegiate career across 88 IP.
Recap written by Al Scott, cover photo courtesy of Nate Velasco.