MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine sophomore starter Jordan Durrance allowed only two hits over seven shutout innings in his first collegiate start, and #17 Pepperdine posted a 5-1 win over Western Illinois on Wednesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium

Pepperdine improved to 11-4 with the win, while Western Illinois fell to 1-7.

Pepperdine jumped on top early, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on RBI singles from Eric Thames (San Jose, Calif./West Valley JC/Bellarmine Prep) and David Harris (Glendora, Calif./Santa Barbara JC) to make it 2-0 in favor of the Waves. In the second inning, Matt Aidem (Valencia, Calif./UC Santa Barbara/Valencia HS) ripped a two-out RBI double to increase the lead to 3-0.

The Waves added another run in the sixth after Harris scored on an error, but the Leathernecks got the run back in the eighth inning on two-out RBI double. Pepperdine answered in their half of the eighth as Nate Simon (Duvall, Wash./Tulane) notched an RBI single to push the lead to 5-1, and Nick Gaudi pitched the final 1.1 innings to notch his sixth save of the season.

Durrance (Manteca, Calif./Sierra HS) notched his first win of the season in his first collegiate start, while Western Illinois starter Mark DiBernardo incurred the loss. Durrance tossed seven innings, two hits and no walks while striking out three batters. Durrance pitched 24 games in relief last season and had not started a game since high school.

“Jordan Durrance came in and did a great job,” Pepperdine Coach Steve Rodriguez said. “We just wanted to see what he could do in his first start, and he was able to go deep into the game and that allowed us to save our bullpen. It was great to see him have a strong outing and I hope that this is going to be a sign of things to come from him.”

The Waves offense was led by Harris, who notched his second consecutive three-hit game, Aidem, who went 2-for-4 with one RBI, Simon, who notched a pair of RBI and Chase d'Arnaud (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS), who extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

Up next, the Waves open a three-game series at home against Oral Roberts beginning on Friday, Mar. 14 at 3 p.m. at Eddy D. Field Stadium.