Gonzaga University
#26 Pepperdine
Baseball Seniors Go Out With 9-8 Win
5/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2003
SPOKANE, Wash. - On senior day at Gonzaga University, Bulldog seniors Kemp Quackenbush and Sam Hess provided the late inning heroics as Gonzaga (26-25-1, 14-16 WCC) rallied for a 9-8 win over Pepperdine University (35-21, 23-7 WCC) in the final game of the 2003 regular season. It was the fifth straight series win for Gonzaga as they finished play at Spokane Falls Community College with a 7-3 record.
With the scored tied at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh Quackenbush connected for his second home run of the season, a two-run shot against Waves relief pitcher James Johnson (3-2). Hess was on base when Quackenbush hit his home run to left center after Hess had led off the inning with a single up the middle his third hit of the day.
Hess had earlier tied the game at 7-7 for the Bulldogs as he hit his second home run in as many days in the bottom of the fifth against Pepperdine starter Brandon Boesch. Hess finished the game 3-for-4 with 3 RBI in his final collegiate game.
Trailing 3-2 Pepperdine used a five-run third inning against Bulldogs starter Patrick Donovan to jump out to a commanding 7-3 lead. Taylor Klozowski had the big hit in the Waves third inning with a two-run double. Brent Haapanen and Ty Harper also drove home runs in the inning that chased Donovan from the contest.
Matt Reding (3-0) helped the Bulldogs escape the third and worked into the ninth inning allowing only one run in the top of the ninth. John Gonzalez struck out the Waves final batter with bases loaded to pick up his sixth save of the year.
Gonzaga opened the game with a two-run Sam Hess single in the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead and went back ahead 3-2 in the second inning on a Eric Rodland RBI single. Klozowski and Cory Brightwell drove home the Pepperdine runs in the second inning that had tied the game at 2-2.
In the fourth Jeff Culpepper drove home two with a bases loaded single that cut the Waves lead to 7-6 after Kemp Quackenbush had scored earlier in the inning on an infield error that extended the Bulldogs time at bat.
Gonzaga finishes the season one game over .500 as Hess and Culpepper each had three hits in the finale. Quackenbush and Gordon Corder also had two hits in the Bulldogs win.
Pepperdine returns home to Malibu, Calif. to face the University of San Diego in the West Coast Conference playoffs. Harper, Chris Kelly and Klozowski all had three hits in the Waves losing effort.
