UCLA mounts insane comeback, not enough
The PAC-12 Baseball Tournament saw an incredible comeback to set up the elimination game between the UCLA Bruins and the Oregon State Beavers
College baseball has had some insane games through the ages, but none more so than game one of the doubleheader between the No 3 seeded UCLA Bruins and the No 2 seeded Oregon State Beavers.
With both teams letting the bats rip, the score was 21-12 going into the bottom of the ninth, when the Bruins mounted one of the craziest comebacks ever, scoring nine runs to level the game at 21 apiece. The first nine batters reached base before Oregon State chalked up the first out of the inning.
As the game moved to extra innings, the Beavers went ahead again before the bottom of the tenth got more insane still. With the bases loaded, Oregon State redshirt freshman pitcher Ryan Brown stepped off the rubber and made a half-hearted fake to second base. Faking to second without being in contact with the rubber is a balk, so all runners advanced and the tying run crossed the plate.
UCLA catcher Tommy Beres then belted a three-run blast to left field for the walk off 25-22 victory for the Bruins.
The real tale of the tape in this game was not so much the hot bats, although they were pretty lively, as much as the limp pitching. There were 20 unintentional walks and four HBPs. Both teams’ defenses added to the mix by racking up five fielding errors in the game.
On the back of a game that lasted five hours, forty-four minutes, and scored 47 total runs, the two teams then had a short recess before lining up and doing it again for the right to advance to the PAC-12 tournament final against Stanford.
This is the inaugural year for the PAC-12 tournament, with the overall winner receiving the division’s automatic bid to the College World Series.
Both of these two teams were depleted by the end of the first game, with Oregon State using nine pitchers from their stable and UCLA seven.
The second game was just as lively as the first, with both teams racking up the runs and trading leads before an unlikely fielding error tied the game at seven, before a walk off single by PAC-12 Player of the Year Jacob Melton knocked in the winning run for the Beavers to advance with an 8-7 win.
Oregon State will now face the Stanford Cardinal for the PAC-12 tournament final and the right to host the College World Series Field of 64 stage. With so much damage done to their pitching staff only one day before the game, though, the Beavers will need more than a little luck to see of a strong Stanford team.