NCAA Central Regional : Waves Can’t Rewrite Script, Reach the End in 5-3 Loss to Arizona

With enough drama for any soap opera and a team with only one senior, Pepperdine looks like a road show of “The Young and the Restless.”

But experienced and powerful Arizona came out on top of the Waves, 5-3, Sunday night in the championship game of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament at Disch-Falk Field.

Arizona (45-18) advances to the College World Series in Omaha beginning on Friday.

Even the loss looked like a twist written into the script by a ratings-hungry producer trying to build interest in this show’s next season.

To wit:

Facing elimination from the tournament Saturday night, the Waves (38-21) beat powerhouse Texas on a two-strike suicide squeeze bunt in the tenth inning.

Pepperdine batters were so restless against Arizona pitcher Gilbert Heredia, they couldn’t wait before swinging. Nine batters hit Heredia’s first pitch in the first six innings.

Mike Fetters (13-7) started out strong, as he struck out the first two batters. But he gave up seven hits--four for extra bases--and three wild pitches to go with his eight strikeouts.

“It was just a matter of my overthrowing the ball,” Fetters said after his erratic showing.

Taking a 2-1 lead in the third inning, the usually smooth-fielding Waves let Arizona retake the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth on two errors and two of Fetters’ wild pitches.

Heredia (15-3) earned his second complete-game victory of the tournament.

The two unearned runs the Wildcats got in the fourth were the key element to this season-ending episode of Wave baseball. The Arizona players who scored reached base on errors and advanced on the wild pitches.

“That was the difference right there,” Pepperdine Coach Dave Gorrie said.

After Arizona opened the scoring with a run in the top of the third inning, the Waves came back to take the lead in the bottom of the inning.

Matt Howard opened the Waves’ third with a double. It was only his fourth extra base hit this season. Chris Sloniger chased Howard home with a triple to the wall in right-center field before Sloniger scored on a single by Paul Faries to give Pepperdine a 2-1 lead.

Present disappointment aside, Gorrie sounded like a network executive with a sure-fire hit on his hands for next year.

“When you lose the last game of the year, you’re never completely happy,” Gorrie said. “But I’m very proud of these guys and we think we’ve had a good recruiting year. We’ll be back.”