COLLEGE BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : After Exams, Pepperdine Faces More Tests

By the time Sunday evening arrives, Pepperdine’s players hope to have passed several difficult tests.

They finished final exams Wednesday morning before traveling to Cal State Fullerton, where the top-ranked Titans beat them, 6-5. On Friday, the Waves will begin a four-game West Coast Conference series at No. 22 Santa Clara that will probably determine the Waves’ playoff fate.

Santa Clara, which has a 15-game winning streak, is 25-11 and leads the WCC with a 14-2 record. Pepperdine is 22-15 and one game behind at 12-2. Because of their so-so nonconference record, the Waves almost certainly must win the WCC to gain a berth in the 48-team NCAA tournament.

Regardless of the outcome, outfielders David Newhan and Ryan Christenson appear to have made the grade this season.

Newhan, a senior left fielder from Esperanza High, is among the conference leaders in almost every category. He is batting .338, has an 11-game hitting streak and has hit a team-high nine home runs. He also has a team-best 25 stolen bases and .606 slugging percentage.

That’s a far different story from last year, when he batted .239 after transferring to Pepperdine following an outstanding sophomore season at Georgia Tech.

“I’m trying not to get caught up in the results of what I’m doing, which is a different approach from last year,” said Newhan, who also played at Cypress College. “I’m just going out and trying to do things in a relaxed way. I’m not worried about what happens.”

Christenson, a junior center fielder, is batting .355 and has a team-leading 50 hits.

First-year Coach Pat Harrison, who succeeded Andy Lopez after working as an assistant for defending national champion Oklahoma, is counting on Newhan and Christenson to lead the Waves back to the playoffs. Pepperdine missed the tournament last season for the first time since 1990.

“We struggled the first month of the season getting our lineup set, but we’re playing now like we are capable,” Harrison said. “If we’re going to make a run, we need to do it now.”

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Two of the hottest players in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division, USC outfielder Geoff Jenkins and UCLA first baseman Pete Zamora, will be on the same field this weekend when the seventh-ranked Trojans play the Bruins in a three-game series.

USC, coming off its first sweep at Stanford since 1979, is 30-15 overall and 13-8 in conference play. The Trojans trail league-leading California by a half-game entering the UCLA series. Jenkins, a junior who should be a first-round draft pick in June, is batting .394 and has a conference-leading 14 home runs, including four in the last six games.

Zamora, a freshman from Capistrano Valley High, is batting .298 for the Bruins, who are 22-17 and tied for fourth place in the league with Arizona State at 10-11. Zamora hit two game-winning home rUNs, including a ninth-inning grand slam, in a series last weekend against Arizona.