FOREST GROVE, Ore. – It was a thrilling back-and-forth contest to open the Northwest Conference Postseason Tournament at Chuck Bafaro Stadium and it was
Brad Altomare's walk-off squeeze bunt that lifted Pacific over Pacific Lutheran in 10 innings.
Pacific (24-13, 14-10 NWC) squandered a three-run lead in the top of the eighth inning but made the most of their home-field advantage by scoring in the last half of the 10
th to advance to the winner's bracket.
Kahi Bisho (Senior/Honolulu, HI) got the nod for the weekend opener and put together a brilliant outing. The right-hander took the no-decision but surrendered just four hits and one earned run in his 6.2 innings of work, his longest outing of the season.
Jordan Hara (Senior/Aiea, HI) went 2-for-4, scored a run, and extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
Cole Strober (Senior/Pacific City, OR) picked up a couple hits off the bench and scored the winning run after singling in the 10
th.
Andrew Thomas (Senior/Escondido, CA) mashed his eight homer of the year, a two-run shot to give the Boxers their first runs of the game.
Brad Altomare (Senior/San Ramon, CA) was the star of the show, coming through with the clutch squeeze bunt to give Pacific the victory while going 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. The second baseman made some fantastic run-saving plays defensively, highlighted by his diving play in the top of the ninth.
How It Happened
Pacific Lutheran opened the scoring in the top of the second when they capitalized on some Pacific defensive miscues to take an early 1-0 lead.
After two scoreless frames,
Isaac Lovings (Senior/Beaverton, OR) singled to set the table for Thomas who crushed a ball over the centerfield wall to give his team the lead in the fifth.
The Lutes replied with a three-run seventh, using three hits and a pair of walks to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
Following the seventh-inning stretch, the Boxers went to work at the plate and scored five runs to regain the lead. Altomare slapped a single through the right side to score Lovings before
Nolan McNeill (Senior/San Tan Valley, AZ) came up big in his pinch-hit opportunity, ripping a double down the left-field line to score two more. With runners on second and third,
Ryan Krout (Senior/Washougal, WA) grounded one through the drawn-in infield to extend the lead to 7-4.
The back-and-forth contest took another twist in the top of the eighth when PLU pushed three runs across to tie things up. Four hits and an error would allow the Lutes to gain some momentum, but
Liam Cammall (Senior/San Diego, CA) did well to end the threat, stranding runners at second and third.
The Boxers loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but Pacific Lutheran's Alex Gregory navigated his way out of the jam.
However, Pacific would eventually come out victorious. Strober put together a heroic at-bat to leadoff the inning, battling in a 3-2 count before lining a base hit to right-center.
Ty Yukumoto (Freshman/Waipahu, HI) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Strober to third base, setting the stage for Altomare. Head Coach
Brian Billings called for the squeeze and Altomare did the job to perfection, pushing his bunt down the first base line to score Strober easily, sending the Boxers into the winners' bracket.
Up Next
The Boxers will face #2 seed Linfield tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship round.
For the latest information on Pacific Athletics, make sure to check out GoBoxers.com. You can also find the Boxers on social media at @GoBoxers on
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter.
#GoBoxers
