With the bases loaded, two outs, an 11-11 ball game in the bottom of the ninth and the lively Goss Stadium roaring behind him, Dallas Macias stepped into the lefty batter’s box.
University of California, Los Angeles pitcher Rashad Ruff fired a strike that hushed the crowd for a second before they thundered back up. Macias watched three straight balls below the zone and swung over the 3-1 offering, drawing the count full. Wilson Weber, the winning run, bounced off the third base bag.
Goss erupted on the ninth pitch of the at bat as Macias ducked out of the way of ball four, bringing home Weber, and walking-off the game for the first time this season.
“That was awesome,” Macias said. “On deck I was preparing to compete, and got the walk to get it done.”
With the 12-11 victory over the Bruins on Saturday, Oregon State University baseball secured another important PAC-12 series win.
The game followed season long trends with the explosive offense keeping the Beavers in the game. Jacob Kmatz exited the game after giving up six runs, four earned, over 2.2 innings.
“We didn’t have Kmatz’s back,” head coach Mitch Canham said. “We were kicking the ball around, so he had to make a quick exit. We can’t ever let that happen.”
But there was no sign of quitting from the Beaver offense, even after going down 6-1 in the top of the second inning.
The Beavers responded quickly with Travis Bazzana singling to lead off the inning. This was Bazzana’s 238th hit as a Beaver, tying him with the most hits in program history.
Senior Micah McDowell and Macias both reached base to load them with no outs. Gavin Turley drew the Beavers closer with a two run single, to bring up Brady Kasper, who would launch his second home run of the game to tie it 6-6.
The scoring wasn’t over in the bottom of the second as Jabin Trosky drove his first homer of the season over the right field wall to extend the Beaver lead to 8-6.
UCLA fought back to tie the game in the fifth, but Wilson Weber would push the Beavers back out front 10-8 with a two run homer in the bottom of the fifth.
The momentum seemed to be swinging the Bruins way, when they tied the game 10-10 in the top of the seventh and retired five straight Beavers to end the seventh and to start the eighth. But that momentum would swing right back as “Blues Boys Tune” by B.B. King announced Turley to the plate.
After watching a changeup down and fouling one back. Turley sent Ruff’s fastball 437 feet over the left center wall.
“I got it off the handle, but I was able to put a damaging swing on it,” Turley said.
To the frustration of the Goss faithful, the Bruins tied up the game in the top of the ninth, but there was energy from the fans, players and staff that the Beavers would secure the win.
“We haven’t had a walk-off yet,” Canham said. “We think we need to get one of those so we can see what it feels like, especially at home.”
The Beavers look to sweep their last home series on Sunday at noon at Goss Stadium.
