Pepperdine Hungry Like a Wolf, 8-1

Moments after inflicting an 8-1 loss on Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine baseball coaches and players took great pains Wednesday to say they are not on a roll.

No, a decisive nonconference victory over a traditional power for their 21st win in 25 games does not a roll make.

“Our attitude in the clubhouse is that we are just scrapping and scrapping to win every day,” shortstop David Matranga said. “Nothing is coming easy.”

OK, so the Waves aren’t rolling. Instead, let’s say they are on a hunt, led by their primary predator, left-hander Randy Wolf.

The junior All-American stifled Fullerton (23-19-1) over eight innings, allowing five hits while striking out eight and walking one. The Titans scored only in the fourth and Wolf finished strong despite pitching on only three days’ rest, striking out the side in the seventh and needing only six pitches in a one-two-three eighth.

Wolf (8-2), who defeated St. Mary’s last Friday, pitched the midweek game because Pepperdine (28-17) does not play again until April 25 because of finals.

“He’s resilient, and he wanted to pitch,” Coach Frank Sanchez said.

After a couple of shaky outings early in the season that coincided with Pepperdine’s 2-8 start, Wolf has been dominant. He has only four walks in his past 52 innings, and ranks sixth in the nation with a 1.54 earned-run average.

Less than thrilled to see him was struggling Fullerton, which has only one midweek victory--against Cal State Northridge--and has lost three of four to Pepperdine.

“Randy is as good as there is in the country,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “I talked to our team about rising to the challenge, but unfortunately we were not up to the challenge.”

Fullerton scored first when Aaron Rowand singled in C.J. Ankrum in the fourth. Pepperdine squandered three hits against John Alkire in the bottom of the inning with shoddy baserunning.

The Waves exploded for six runs in the fifth, however. Catcher Mike Kramer, batting only .165, singled to start the rally and drove in the last two runs of the inning with another single.

Pepperdine added two runs in the eighth when a single by Chris Cosbey and a double by Mark Lopez, his second of the game, were followed by an intentional walk to Steve Zorn, a run-scoring single by Tyler Ferrer and a sacrifice fly by Josh Oder.

The victory was especially sweet for Matranga, a sophomore who is invited to Team USA tryouts in June. He was not recruited hard by Fullerton despite starring at nearby Orange High.

“It is big because they’ve won the World Series and are always in the Top 25,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, we started 4-10 and nobody said anything about us. We’ve been in the depths, now we’re up.”

“That’s why we can’t say we are on a roll. We’re remembering where we came from.”