Baseball Division Title Belongs to Pepperdine

Pepperdine’s baseball team walked a tightrope throughout Sunday’s crucial game against San Francisco as a divisional title and, possibly, an appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament hung in the balance for both teams.

The Waves survived repeated challenges by getting clutch pitching and key defensive plays at the right time to win the West Coast Conference’s West Division championship with a 4-2 victory at Pepperdine.

Pepperdine, which improved to 36-20 overall and finished WCC play with a 21-9 record, will play Loyola Marymount for the second consecutive year in the best-of-three conference championship series next weekend.

The Waves have victories over Cal State Fullerton, Tulane and Oregon State, the top three teams in the latest Baseball America poll, but Coach Steve Rodriguez figured they had to make it to the championship series to strengthen their chances for an at-large berth.

“You never like leaving it in someone else’s hands,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve beaten some good teams this year, and I think we’ve put ourselves in a situation where we have to be considered.”

The Waves built a 4-1 lead after three innings and made it stand up. But Barry Enright worked his way out of trouble for five innings, and Doug Konoske and Steve Kleen each pitched two scoreless innings as the Dons (38-18, 20-10) stranded 10 baserunners.

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Danny Dorn drove in four runs and hit one of three Fullerton homers, and the top-ranked Titans (40-13) defeated 10th-ranked Long Beach State, 10-0, at Fullerton and clinched their second consecutive Big West Conference title. Scott Sarver limited the 49ers (36-19, 14-7) to four hits in seven innings.

-- Eric Stephens

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Freshman right-hander Angelica Selden pitched a three-hitter and struck out 14 to lead UCLA to a 3-1 victory over Fullerton and a berth in the round of 16 in the NCAA Division I softball tournament.

UCLA (34-17) had to beat the Titans (30-21) twice to advance. The Bruins forced the second game by beating the Titans, 6-0. Selden pitched a two-hitter and Caitlin Benyi, Emily Zaplatosch and Kristen Dedmon hit home runs.

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The seventh-seeded UCLA men’s tennis team reached the final four of the NCAA team championships by upsetting second-seeded Virginia, 4-1, at College Station, Texas.

Benjamin Kohlloeffel clinched the match at No. 2 singles by beating Somdev Devvarman, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Bruins (25-3) will play third-seeded Mississippi (25-3), which beat sixth-seeded Georgia, 4-2.

Top-ranked Baylor advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over ninth-ranked and eighth-seeded Pepperdine.

The Bears (32-0) will play fourth-seeded Florida, which beat Florida State, 4-2. Pepperdine ends the season at 24-3 -- two of the losses were to Baylor.

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Stanford defeated Texas, 4-0, to win the NCAA Division I women’s tennis team championship at Athens, Ga.

Erin Burdette beat Kendra Strohm, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 3 singles to clinch the victory.

It was the second title in a row, fourth in the last five years and 14th overall for Stanford (27-0), which has won 56 consecutive matches.