March 18, 1999

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine ace reliever Jay Gehrke escaped a two-out, bases-loaded jam to hand the #6 Waves a 7-6 victory over the visiting UCLA Bruins on an overcast Wednesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium. Gehrke tied the Pepperdine school record with his eleventh save of the season. The Bruins fall to 15-17 (1-2 in the Pac-10), while the Waves improve to 21-2.

Trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, sophomore dh Eric Reece catapulted a towering two-run shot to right field, cutting the home team's lead to two. The bomb was his first of the season and the second of his career. On the afternoon, Reece was 3-for-4, recording his fourth 3-for-4 game and fifth multi-hit contest in only eleven starts. On the season, Reece is batting a team-high .417.

In the seventh, the Bruins used singles by senior ss Jack Santora and junior rf Brian Baron to knot the game at six apiece. Overall, Baron had a strong day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and a RBI, while Santora was automatic at short, recording a game-high seven assists.

The six-six tie was short-lived, however, as freshman lf Woody Cliffords led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run off Bruin reliever Bobby Roe, giving the Waves the lead for good, 7-6.

With the loss, UCLA's midweek record falls to 2-7 (excluding the Hawaii-Hilo doubleheader on Tuesday, January 26 at Kona).

The Bruins enter finals week on a three-game skid, it's third of the year. After the one-week exam break, UCLA returns to action at Washington, March 27-29 for a three-game conference series with the Huskies (11-4, 0-0). Pepperdine, meanwhile, will head up to Spokane, WA for a three-game West Coast Conference series with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, March 20-21.