Portland, Ore. – Trying for the sweep on the road against Portland, the Pacific baseball team suffered a late-inning loss as the Pilots walked off with a 6-5, 11 inning, win on Sunday, May 11 to hand the Tigers a rare late season loss. The defeat for the Tigers dropped their record to 25-23 overall and 14-10 in WCC play while the Pilots improved to 11-37 overall and 5-19 in conference action.

With the game on the line and a chance for the sweep, fate proved not to be on the Tigers' side on Sunday afternoon at Etzel Field as the Pilots were able to rally for the win against Pacific. Leading by two in the bottom of the eighth, the Tigers witnessed a series of unfortunate events as the Pilots scored twice to keep the game alive. With two outs and a runner at second, freshman Vince Arobio entered the contest to save the game, only to see the inning keep going when a third strike turned into a wild pitch and new life for the Pilots. From there, Portland drove in the game-tying runs, setting up the extra inning affair.

Even with the game tied and the momentum on the side of the Pilots, the Tigers had their chances to come up with runs in the extra frames as Pacific loaded the bases in the 10th, only to be denied. The missed opportunity did not immediately come back to haunt the Tigers as freshman John Jaeger (2-1) was able to pitch his way out of trouble in the bottom half of the inning. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the young gun was not as lucky in the 11th as he gave up the game-winning run with two-outs in the inning to Devin Kopus, who singled home Turner Gill from third after Gill had walked to leadoff the inning.

Taking advantage of free bases and extra outs proved to be the difference in the game for the Pilots as they used 10 walks, a wild pitch, and a Tiger error to setup all of their scoring chances. In both the second and the fourth when the Pilots scored their first three runs of the game it was leadoff walks that started the rallies for Portland.

The Tigers' offense was not without its highlights as Pacific scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before tallying three in the eighth to take its first lead of the afternoon. All day long it was junior Taylor Murphy that was in the middle of the scoring for Pacific as the third-year outfielder finished 5-for-6, finishing a home run shy of the cycle. His five hits marked the first time since 2011 a Tiger had recorded five hits in a contest, a feat teammate Jason Taasaas accomplished against Cal State Northridge back on April 23, 2011.

Murphy's big day was the ignition for all three scoring innings as he scored the first run of the game in the fourth before driving in the second run of the afternoon with an RBI double in the fifth. In the eighth, Murphy rallied the troops with a leadoff triple, scoring the tying run on a double down the left field line by sophomore Brett Sullivan.  Pacific would score twice more in the frame on a failed pick off and an RBI single by senior Erik Lockwood as the fourth-year Tiger put his younger brother, Jackson Lockwood, on the hook for the loss. The younger Lockwood started the contest for the Pilots and went 7.0 innings while giving up eight hits and four runs. He would be taken off the hook in the eighth when the Pilots plated the two runs to tie the game at 5-5.

Overall, Pacific outhit the Pilots, 13-to-11 led by Murphy's five hits. Lockwood and junior Jimmy Gosano each added three hits on the day while Sullivan and J.P. Yakel tallied one.

The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday, May 13 when they head to Oregon to take on the Ducks. The game is scheduled for 6:00 pm. From PK Park in Eugene, Ore.