PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland tied the Pacific Tigers with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and won 3-2 via a walk-off wild pitch in the 12th to keep their hopes of qualifying for the West Coast Conference Tournament alive Friday night at Joe Etzel Field. Kaden Segel earned the win with 6.2 innings of scoreless relief for Portland.
The Pilots (26-25, 12-14 WCC) moved into a tie for sixth place in the WCC standings with one game remaining in the regular season. The top six teams qualify for the league tournament held next week in Scottsdale, Ariz. Portland must win Saturday's series finale and have Santa Clara lose at home to Pepperdine tomorrow to punch their ticket.
It took stellar pitching and timely offense to keep the season alive as Segel (5-2) was stellar allowing just five hits, no walks and striking out two in 6.2 innings out of the bullpen. Portland starter Trey Newmann was also solid, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work.
Pacific starter Adan Perez kept the Pilots off balance all night. He finished 7.0 strong innings surrendering four hits, two walks and a run while sitting down nine. Liam Smith (2-6) was the hard-luck loser out of the pen for the Tigers (23-27-1, 15-10-1) as he departed after 4.1 innings with two runners on, both of which came in to score.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pilots were unable to capitalize early in the game despite threatening. Cody Nitowitz led the game off with a walk and Cole Katayama Stall doubled to left field to put runners on second and third with no outs, but Portland was unable to bring them home. Dakota Chun then led off the second with a single but was stranded as Perez worked out of both jams.
Portland broke through in the third inning as Nitowitz led off with a single and scored on Trey Swygart's double to deep left center field to put the Pilots up 1-0.
The Tigers jumped ahead in the sixth inning after a leadoff single, walk and then an RBI single by Jake Tandy scoring Brendan O'Sullivan. Grant MacArthur plated JT Shank with a sacrifice fly to go up 2-1. Portland got out of the frame with a strikeout from Segel and catcher Chun cutting down Tandy attempting to steal.
Aaron Louis gave the Pilots life with a leadoff single in the ninth inning. Pinch hitter Nolan Miller hit a clutch single to right center pushing pinch runner Bruce Gage to third with one out. Nitowitz wasted no time in drilling a sacrifice fly to center field on the first pitch he saw to send the game to extra innings.
Portland made numerous big-time defensive plays in extras to keep the score tied. The Tigers had a runner on second with one out in the tenth when Rylan Evans hit a single to left field. Nitowitz came up firing and hit cutoff man JT Landwehr at third base who then tagged the runner trying to retreat to third base ending the threat.
Chun ended the 11th inning by throwing out another would-be base stealer with the help of a great pick and tag from second baseman Jonah Salk.
Segel pitched out of trouble in the 12th by inducing a groundout with runners at the corners.
With rain pouring down late in the evening, the Pilots finally put an end to the game after consecutive one-out walks to Katayama Stall and Swygart by Smith. Pacific went to the bullpen and brought in Connor Raridan who threw a wild pitch and then intentionally walked Brady Bean to load the bases. Another wild pitch followed allowing Katayama Stall to dive in safe at home and ignite a Pilot celebration.
GAME NOTES
» Portland scored three runs on eight hits and committed no errors.
» Pacific had two runs on 10 hits with one error.
» The Pilots drew seven walks from Pacific pitching and allowed just one base on balls.
» Portland left 10 runners on base and the Tigers stranded six.
» Sophomore Trey Swygart was the lone Pilot with multiple hits as he went 2-for-5 with a walk and RBI.
» Nitowitz was 1-for-4 with a run scored, RBI and walk.
» Pacific had three players collect two hits.
» There was a 17-minute rain delay in the bottom of the first inning and intermittent showers throughout the game.
Up Next
The series concludes on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joe Etzel Field. The Pilots will honor six seniors prior to first pitch with the Senior Day ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m.
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