Box Score Malibu, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers ended the season right, picking up the 8-4 win in the last game of the year against the Pepperdine Waves. The Tigers never trailed in the game after picking up two runs in the first inning, eventually striking for three in the ninth to snuff out any chance at a Pepperdine comeback. Pacific ends the year 22-30 overall and 12-15 in conference. Those 12 wins in conference are the second-most since 1999, topped only by 2014's 15-12 record.
Jake Jenkins made his 62nd appearance as a Tiger with his start in the season finale today. Jenkins ended his Tiger career 16th all-time in appearances. He struck out four batters in the game to give him 223 in his career, good for 11th all-time. Jenkins left in the seventh inning with two men on base, giving way to Vince Arobio. The win still went to Jenkins to give him 15 in his career.
Arobio picked up the save with three innings of work to give him six saves on the season. Through three years at Pacific, Arobio is already just one save away from tying the all-time record in a Tiger career.
Pepperdine started Max Gamboa, who went three innings before being replaced by Jonathan Pendergast. Both pitchers left the game losing, with the final decision going to Pendergast, who took the loss. Pepperdine used five pitchers in the game and all of them allowed at least one run.
J.J. Wagner scored Pacific's first run of the series in the first inning after leading off the game with a HBP that hit Wagner in the back. Two wild pitches moved Wagner to third before Danny Mayer grounded out to score Wagner. The groundout gave Mayer 40 RBI on the season, making Gio Brusa and him the seventh Tiger duo ever to each record 40 RBI in a single season. The last time that happened was 2009, when Kurt Wideman and J.B. Brown each had 40+ RBI.
For Wagner, it was his 87th career run. That puts Wagner 31st in Pacific's career rankings in that category.
Gio Brusa broke out of his mini-slump with a double that plopped in next to the leftfield line after Mayer's RBI. Brusa has 47 career doubles now, moving him into sole possession of second place in Pacific's history in doubles.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead with Nate Verlin's double into the left-center gap, allowing Brusa to trot home easily. Verlin's ninth double of the season and pushed his batting average back up over .300 for the year. The sophomore first baseman is one of four qualified Tigers to hit over .300, joining Mayer, Brusa, and Lucas Halstead in that distinction. The last time Pacific had that many players hit over .300 was 2010.
Jenkins retired the first four men he faced in the game before back-to-back singles to leftfield by Pepperdine. Jenkins got another out before Pepperdine laid down a bunt single to load the bases. The Waves managed to draw a walk in an eight-pitch at-bat to get their first run of the game.
Kevin Sandri dove through the air to his right to snag a line drive and end the inning spectacularly. Pacific held on to their lead thanks to Sandri's great play, going to the third up 2-1.
The hitting streak continued for Mayer with a very odd single in the third inning after Halstead's walk. Mayer hit a low line drive toward the second baseman that hit off the leg of the umpire and bounced away from the fielders, allowing both runners to slide in safely. The lucky bounce for Mayer gave him a 22-game hitting streak, during which he has hit .361 with 20 runs, eight doubles, seven homers, and 16 RBI.
Two more wild pitches brought Pepperdine's count up to five through three innings and gave Pacific another run to stretch the lead to 3-1.
The Waves tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run double to leftfield. Pepperdine put two men on with a walk and a single through the right side before scoring them both with the double.
The tie didn't last for long thanks to Halstead. The sophomore hit his fifth homer of the year over the leftfield wall in the fifth inning to Pacific back in front. During Halstead's 14-game hitting streak, he has nine extra-base hits with five doubles and four homers. He has hit .407 with ten runs and ten RBI in that time as well. It was Pacific's 41st homer this season, a total they would add on to later with Brusa's bomb. The 42 homers this season are the second-most ever by Pacific, topped only by the 49 homers they hit in 2005.
Mayer put together his 20th multi-hit game of the year, tying him for the team lead with Brusa, when he singled following Halstead's blast. Mayer ended the season with five games in a row with multiple hits, hitting .455 in that stretch. He also ends the year with 35 games in a row reaching base.
In the seventh, Wagner singled on the first pitch he saw for his 152nd career hit, then stolen second for his seventh stolen base of the season. Entering this season, Wagner had six stolen bases in 11 attempts: this year, he was 7-for-10. The stolen base paid off nicely as Halstead's groundout put Wagner on third instead of starting a double play.
Wagner would score on a wild pitch, the second time in the game Pacific got a run on a wild pitch and Pepperdine's sixth passed ball or wild pitch of the day.
Jenkins came out for the bottom of the seventh with a two-run lead as he worked over six innings for the fourth time this season. Arobio took over after two singles started the inning, with a third following to charge Jenkins with his fourth run allowed.
Arobio got the first out of the inning with a swinging strikeout but found himself in big trouble when a walk loaded the bases. Good luck went Pacific's way: a wild pitch saw all the runners try to advance but the ball bounced hard off the backstop straight back to Yakel. Yakel grabbed the ball and dove back to the plate to tag the runner trying to score. A weak groundout ended the inning after just the one run.
Arobio struck out two more men in the eighth inning to set a new career high in strikeouts with 27 this season. Arobio has reached that strikeout total in five innings less than when he struck out 24 his freshman year.
A single through the left side helped Halstead match Mayer's streak of multi-hit games at five. Halstead has hit .476 over the last five games and .435 in May.
The Waves brought in a new pitcher to flip Brusa to batting right-handed but the senior still went yard with his 14th dinger of the season. Brusa took the ball out over the left-center wall to get to 46 RBI this year. That total puts Bursa tenth all-time for a single season with the most RBI since Mike Walker's 52 in 2010. Only four Tigers have ever hit more homeruns in a season than Brusa 14: Justin Baum and Matt Berezay in 2005, Vic Sanchez in 1994, and Mayer this season.
Brusa will also end his career fifth all-time in RBI with 123 and 13th in runs with 108. His 25 career homers are just one behind Matt Berezay for third all-time. Mayer and Brusa end the year first and second in the WCC in homeruns as well as each in the top ten in RBI, hits, slugging percentage, and runs.
After singles by Nate Verlin and Sandri, Mejia tacked on another insurance run with a double over the leftfielder's head. Verlin scored and Sandri was thrown out at the plate to end the inning, just missing getting his foot under the catcher's tag.
Arobio pitched a scoreless ninth inning as he picked up the save. The three innings of work by Arobio were a new season high in the final game of the season.
The Pacific Tigers have wrapped up their season now. Pacific baseball camps are available this summer, with all information on the camps online.
Make sure to follow Pacific baseball on Twitter with the username @PacificBaseball and on Instagram at pacificbaseball.
