Waves Aiming for Beach Party

Who needs Disneyland when you can celebrate at Pamela Anderson’s house?

Still riding the high of its victory over San Francisco in the West Coast Conference championship series, the Pepperdine baseball team spent Monday afternoon at a congratulatory barbecue where the model and Waves supporter was host.

Pepperdine hopes to keep the party going this weekend when it plays host to its first NCAA regional.

The top-seeded Waves (40-19) learned Monday that they would play fourth-seeded Missouri (31-25) at 3 p.m. Friday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

“I think it’s going to be good for us because we’re used to the field, and it’s a very comfortable place for us,” said Coach Steve Rodriguez, whose Waves will face a Missouri team that recently swept a three-game series against defending national champion Texas. “I think it is going to be an advantage.”

The Malibu regional will have a distinctly Southern California flavor considering that the other first-round game matches second-seeded UCLA (32-23) against third-seeded UC Irvine (36-22) at 11 a.m. Friday. The pairing holds special appeal for John Savage, who coached the Anteaters to their only other regional appearance, in 2004, before moving on to UCLA.

Irvine junior right-hander Justin Cassel, scheduled to pitch against the Bruins, is among the Anteaters recruited by Savage.

“There’s an irony to it, I think,” Coach Dave Serrano said of playing against the coach who helped establish his program.

Cal State Fullerton was awarded the No. 5 overall seeding in the 64-team tournament and will play host to one of 16 four-team regionals for the fourth consecutive year. The Titans (43-13), seeded No. 1 in their regional, play fourth-seeded St. Louis (32-27) on Friday at Goodwin Field. Second-seeded Fresno State (43-16) and third-seeded San Diego (32-23) play in the other first-round game.

The winners of the Malibu and Fullerton regionals advance to play each other in a best-of-three super regional beginning June 9.

The only surprise when the regional pairings were announced Monday was the exclusion of Long Beach State, which finished behind Fullerton -- and ahead of Irvine -- in the Big West Conference.

The 49ers (29-27) failed to secure a regional berth for the first time since 2000 after losing three games to Fullerton over the weekend. Long Beach State was 3-0 against Irvine and played one of the toughest schedules in the country, including 21 games against ranked opponents.

“There’s not a team in this field that would want to be playing Long Beach State in Game 1 of a regional,” Serrano said.

Serrano lamented the fact that the tournament selection committee invited three WCC teams -- Pepperdine, San Francisco and San Diego -- but only two from the Big West, which was 34-15 against the WCC.

“They got three very deserving teams, but I think we have three very deserving teams,” Serrano said.

Irvine’s nonconference schedule included two games against UCLA, with the Bruins winning, 8-4 and 10-1, earlier this month.

“They’ve kind of had their way with us,” said Serrano, who is 0-4 against UCLA in his two seasons with the Anteaters. “Our goal is to get that turned around.”

*

Pining for Omaha

First-day schedules for the two double-elimination regionals in the Southland (times Pacific):

MALIBU REGIONAL

Friday at Pepperdine’s Eddy D. Field Stadium

* Game 1: UCLA (32-23) vs. UC Irvine (36-22), 11 a.m.

* Game 2: Missouri (31-25) vs. Pepperdine (40-19), 3 p.m.

FULLERTON REGIONAL

Friday at Fullerton’s Goodwin Field

* Game 1: Fresno State (43-16) vs. San Diego (32-23), 4 p.m.

* Game 2: St. Louis (32-27) vs. Cal State Fullerton (43-13), 8 p.m.

* COMPLETE REGIONAL SCHEDULE...D7