Pirates Lose Second Straight on West Coast Trip, Fall to Pepperdine 5-3

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine sophomore Cole Cook tossed his first complete game to lead Pepperdine to a 5-3 win over No. 10 East Carolina Thursday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium in game one of a three-game non-conference series.

Cook (1-2) fanned eight batters and allowed three runs (two earned) to record his first win of the season. The 2009 Freshman All-America right-hander retired eight of the first 11 batters faced, three by strikeout, and eight of his last 10, also three by strikeout to help the Wave improve to 5-8 on the season.

Kevin Brandt (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season working six innings allowing five runs on six hits with one strikeout and two walks. After surrendering three runs in the first, Brandt retired 11 of the next 13 Wave hitters before Pepperdine (5-8) scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Mike Wright made his

Pepperdine jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Ryan Van Amburg bases loaded double. Harrison Kain singled up the middle with one out then took second on Ryan Heroy’s two-out single left field. Torrey Jacoby loaded the bases when he was plunked by a Brandt fastball before Amburg doubled to left center.

ECU knotted the game at three in the sixth inning thanks to four hits and two Wave errors. Cam Freeman singled to right to start the frame and came home on Dustin Harrington’s infield single that Cook sailed over the first baseman’s head putting Harrington on third with no outs. John Wooten reached on an error by Rooney scoring Harrington and landing on second base before trotting home on Corey Thompson’s RBI double to right center.

The Waves answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-3 lead. Heroy walked to start the frame then took second on Van Amberg’s one-out walk. After Nate Johnson flied out to right center, Miles Silverstein singled through the left side and advanced to second when Austin Homan over ran the ball scoring both Heroy and Amberg to give Pepperdine a two-run advantage.

Cook retired the Pirates in the seventh and eighth in order before Thompson singled up the middle to start the ninth. But second baseman Joe Sever sealed ECU’s fate when he caught a line drive by Zach Wright for the first out and then threw out Homan and Philip Clark on a pair of grounders to end the game.

Offensively the Pirates recorded eight hits with Harrington, who extended his hit streak to 20 games, and Thompson collecting three hits, while Freeman and Homan had base knocks on the afternoon.

The Pirates and Waves will resume the three-game series Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. (EST) with Zach Woods and Matt Bywater scheduled to take the hill.