Pepperdine Stays Unbeaten in West, 8-5

TUCSON —  Chris Sheff drove in two runs and stole four bases when Pepperdine became one of two undefeated teams in the NCAA Division I West Regional with an 8-5 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday night.

Pepperdine (42-10-1) has won 14 consecutive games and 24 of its last 26.

The Waves will play sixth-seeded Washington in the winner’s bracket final today.

Sheff singled in two runs in a four-run fifth inning to give third-seeded Pepperdine a 6-1 lead. Sheff, who stole second and third base twice each, scored on a balk to conclude the fifth.

“Chris can really control offensively,” Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez said of Sheff. “He can take the ball out of the yard just about anywhere. He can take control of an inning and get us going.

Wave right-hander Steve Duda (9-1) gave up nine hits before leaving in the eighth. Steve Montgomery got the final two outs for his seventh save.

“The team’s confidence was great after the win against Fresno State,” Duda said. “The hitting from Sheff helped tremendously.”

Pepperdine’s Matt McElreath had a two-run single to open the scoring in the second and added an RBI-double in the eighth.

The Waves, who had 91 regular-season stolen bases, had five against Southeastern Louisiana.

Scott Tribble had three hits for Southeastern Louisiana, the lone remaining Louisiana team among the five invited to the NCAA regionals.

“The entire first round was a lot of bad plays and misses,” Lopez said. “Today Southeastern Louisiana ran well and they’re a good ballclub, but we just had a lot of good hitting.”