MALIBU, Calif. – The #13 Pepperdine baseball team scored all five of its runs with two outs en route to a 5-2 upset of #7 San Diego on Friday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu.

Pepperdine (28-13, 9-3 WCC) moved to within two games of the Toreros (35-13, 13-3 WCC) for first place in the conference. Pepperdine improved to 19-3 at home with the victory.

The Waves got on board first in the second inning on a bases-loaded two-run single from Bryce Mendonca (San Leandro, Calif./Chabot JC) off Toreros All-American pitcher Brian Matusz to give Pepperdine a 2-0 lead. One inning later, the Waves added onto their lead on Ryan Heroy’s (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) two-run homer, his second of the season, to extend the Pepperdine lead to 4-0.

USD scratched together a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Nick McCoy to make it a 4-1 game and scored another in the fifth on a wild pitch to make it 4-2 contest in favor of Pepperdine.

Heroy extended the Waves’ lead in the seventh on an RBI single to give Pepperdine a 5-2 lead, and the Pepperdine bullpen kept the lead intact. Freshman Tyler Hess (Alta Loma, Calif./De La Salle HS) tossed three shutout innings in relief of starter Nathan Newman (Houston, Texas/Grayson CC) , and Nick Gaudi (Lancaster, Calif./Paraclete HS) nailed down his 11th save of the season with a hitless ninth inning to seal Pepperdine’s 5-2 victory.

Newman improved to 6-2 with the win after tossing five innings and striking out five batters. Matusz dropped to 9-2 with the loss. 

“Our goal today was to just compete and put the ball in play,” Pepperdine Coach Steve Rodriguez said. “Then to see Heroy come up with a big home run and Mendonca with the two-out hit, those plays are huge in a game like today, because you know it’s going to be a tight game.. Brian, Matusz is one of the best pitchers in the country, and we just beat him, so I’m a pretty happy guy right now.”

Heroy led the Waves’ offense with a 3-for-4 performance that included three RBI, Mendonca notched two hits and two RBI, and Trent Diedrich (Fresno, Calif./Bullard HS) and Denny Duron (Shreveport, La./Evangel Christian Academy) each recorded a pair of hits. USD had five different players each notch one hit.

The Waves and Toreros continue their three-game series with a 1 p.m. game tomorrow at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu. The game will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports.