MALIBU, Calif. - Santa Clara (16-27; 3-11 WCC) dropped a 5-4 decision on Saturday in Malibu to the Pepperdine Waves (19-24; 5-6 WCC). Base runners were not a problem for the Broncos, as Santa Clara amassed 13 hits. Lucas Herbst led the Broncos by going 2-5 at the plate with a double and two RBI's. Justin Viele collected three hits, while Stephen Takahashi, Pat Terry and Zach Looney both provided two. Curtis Wagner drove home a RBI on a single in the fourth. Brock Simon (3-7) pitched 6.1 innings and was charged with the loss.
Pepperdine opened up the scoring in the bottom half of the second, as Diedrich homered to left field for the Waves. After Johnson singled to center field, Server doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Meyer hit a sacrifice fly to score Johnson from third, and Dipaola knocked in Sever two batters later to give the Waves a 3-0 lead.
The Broncos responded in the fourth as Pat Terry doubled with two outs down the right field line. Wagner followed by knocking in Terry on a single.
Santa Clara took the lead in the fifth as Viele led off the inning with a single. Takahashi bunted his way on, moving Viele over to second. Looney singled to left, and Viele was able to score on a fielding error. After Mat Ozanne moved Looney and Takahashi into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, Herbst doubled to right center scoring both base runners.
Pepperdine took the lead for good in the sixth as Johnson homered to right center to tie the game at four. Sever singled and scored on Meyer's double to center field to give the Waves a 5-4 lead.
The Broncos last scoring opportunity game in the 8th, but they were unable to cash in.
The series continues tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in Malibu, California.
Game Notes: First pitch was at 1:00 p.m... game time was 2:42... attendance was 164... seven of nine offensive starters had at least one hit... five Broncos had a multi-hit game.
