COLLEGE BASEBALL: WAVES OPEN WITH WIN OVER NEVADA : PHILLIPS POWERS CSUN ON ROAD.

Byline: Daily News

Frank Sanchez considers himself charmed.

Not many, if any, coaches return to the dugout just five months after having brain surgery, suffering paralysis and relearning how to swallow. But there was Sanchez standing in the Pepperdine dugout Friday watching the Waves open the season with a 6-2 victory over Nevada.

Afterward, Sanchez appeared relaxed as his 3-year-old daughter, Lacey, sat on his lap.

``Maybe now you'll stop writing about me and start writing about the team,'' he said. ``Not that I'm complaining.''

He has very little about which to complain. Starting pitcher Brad Tucker pitched eight innings and gave up two runs and four hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Only one hit came after the second inning, when Nevada (0-1) scored its runs.

Third baseman G.J. Raymundo, who was expected to be out four to six weeks with a hairline fracture in his right forearm, played, hit a triple and scored two runs. And the team pounded out nine hits using wood bats.

``Divine intervention,'' was what Sanchez called Raymundo's appearance. But he could have applied the term to Tucker's pitching after the second inning.

Tucker wasn't finding the strike zone with his breaking ball or change-up,so the Wolf Pack hitters waited on his fastball. An Arona Taele second-inning single scored both runs for a 2-0 Nevada lead.

But in the third inning, Tucker found his control. He couldn't explain it, and neither could catcher Dane Sardinha.

``I don't even know,'' Sardinha said. ``I told him to keep on throwing it. That was his No. 1 pitch today.''

With his pitching under control, Tucker, who led the Waves last year with an 8-1 record, kept the Nevada hitters off-balance. He faced the minimum in five of his last six innings and said he felt stronger as the game progressed.

Sanchez didn't let him finish because he was near his 100-pitch limit. Jay Gehrke struck out the side in the ninth but not before giving up a single and a walk.

``He's the guy with the most experience,'' Sanchez said of Tucker. ``He's the guy who did it for us last year. He's the guy who from Day 1 showed he's the guy.''

Raymundo is expected to be an offensive power, but not this soon. Ten days after his forearm injury earlier this month, a second X-ray revealed the fracture had healed enough that he could play.

``The Lord healed it in 10 days,'' he declared.

The Waves spread around their offense; five different people, including El Camino Real graduate Woody Cliffords, drove in runs off two Nevada pitchers. They had to use wood bats because they weren't insured to use the new Louisville Slugger aluminum bats.

``I like them,'' Raymundo said. ``It separates who can hit and who can't.''

- Lee Branathan

Cal State Northridge 8, UC Santa Barbara 4: Daniel Phillips had three hits, including a home run and double, and drove in three runs to lead the Matadors (3-2) past the Gauchos (1-1) at Goleta.

Eric Horvat and Adrian Mendoza added two hits each for Northridge, Horvat homering, and Tim Bell and Trevor Gray split the pitching for the Matadors, Bell starting and getting his second win against no losses.

Brad Wright had two hits, including a double, for UCSB.