Pepperdine Squeaks Past U.S. International, 8-7, in Baseball

Steve Rodriguez hit a three-run homer off Chris Townsend to give fourth-ranked Pepperdine an 8-7 nonconference baseball victory against U.S. International on Wednesday.

Rodriguez, batting .441, homered in the top of the eighth after a USIU error and a single.

Takaaki Sugiyama had a two-run homer for USIU and Mike Murphy added a three-run homer. Darren Forster went three for four with a double and two runs scored.

USIU dropped to 12-33. Pepperdine improved to 31-7.

UC San Diego dropped a 5-4 Division III nonconference game to Claremont. Ernie Isola and Anthony Sanchez each had two hits and one RBI for the Tritons (12-19), who were hurt by four errors and and two home runs.

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University of San Diego placed third in the final team standings of the West Coast Conference championships in Portland, Ore. Pepperdine won the championships. USD finished 912 points, to Pepperdine’s 882 and second-place San Francisco’s 897.

Steve Brown was the Toreros’ top finisher. His three-round 224 trailed winner Todd Fischer of USF by eight strokes. USD’s Tom Shea finished tied for 12th.