Pepperdine Wins WCC Title

Pepperdine absorbed Loyola Marymount’s best shots all weekend in the West Coast Conference championship series, and when it came down to Sunday’s decisive Game 3, the Waves were the ones who delivered the knockout blow.

The Waves won their second consecutive WCC title by outlasting the Lions, 18-8, in front of a record overflow crowd of 1,013 at Loyola’s Page Stadium.

The offensive outburst helped Pepperdine (38-21) rally from a Game 1 loss and grab the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The Waves will find out where they will play when the 64-team field is announced this morning.

“We proved from Day 1 that we were the best team in the West Coast Conference,” left fielder Luke Salas said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Pepperdine jump-started its offense with a three-run homer by catcher Chad Tracy in the first inning, but it had to withstand the Lions’ five-run rally in the bottom half of the inning, which was capped by an A.J. LaMonda grand slam.

The Waves kept hitting and took advantage of three Lion errors. Salas and Danny Worth each had four hits; and Tracy, Steve Kleen and Adrian Ortiz each had three as Pepperdine totaled a season-high 23 hits and matched its season high in runs.

Loyola (31-27) suffered consecutive losses for the first time since April 24 and doesn’t figure to be selected as an at-large team despite winning 15 of 19 games to end the season.

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Top-ranked Cal State Fullerton was selected to play host to one of the 16 NCAA baseball regionals for the third consecutive season as it attempts to defend its College World Series championship.

The Big West Conference champion Titans (41-15) are expected to get one of the eight national seedings today. Long Beach State (36-20), the Big West runner-up, also was selected to play host. Pacific 10 champion Oregon State will play host for the first time, and Arizona State was the fourth West Coast team to be selected. Other hosts are Baylor, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State, Miami, Mississippi, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas and Tulane.

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Cortland State (N.Y.) defeated Chapman, 15-12, at Grand Chute, Wis., to eliminate the Panthers from the Division III tournament.