Box Score MALIBU, Calif. – Gonzaga baseball took a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning, but a two-run frame for Pepperdine knotted the score before the Waves took the lead in the eighth to earn the 3-2 win to open West Coast Conference play.
 
Gonzaga (6-13, 0-1 WCC) saw its four-game winning streak snapped on Friday at Eddy D. Field Stadium, as Pepperdine (5-16, 1-0 WCC) rallied in their final three offensive innings to stun the Bulldogs.
 
GU struck first in the top of the third, plating a run on a first-and-third play where Hudson Shupe stole second to allow Ty Yukumoto to score before surrendering to a tag that ended the inning. Then in the fourth, Gage Mestas drove home Mikey Bell on an RBI single to make it 2-0.
 
Zag starter Finbar O'Brien (ND, 1-0) was hitless entering the sixth when the Waves got to him. After a leadoff walk, Nick Upstill doubled to put both runners in scoring position with nobody out. Then, Justin Rubin tied the game with one swing on a two-run single up the middle.
 
Pepperdine led off the bottom of the eighth with a double before a wild play resulted in the eventual go-ahead run. A bunt single from Joe Cardinale stymied the Gonzaga battery before a wide throw to first allowed the runner to score from second base.
 
The Bulldogs would put the tying run aboard in the top of the ninth, but closer Adam Troy (S, 3) would complete the save for his third of the season.
 
Despite outhitting the Waves, Gonzaga was unable to plate a third run, leaving six runners on base in the series opener. Yukumoto and Mestas were the lone players with multiple hits on Friday.
 
UP NEXT
Gonzaga will hope to even the series on Saturday, with the first pitch set for 2 p.m. and Miles Gosztola on the mound for the Bulldogs.