Moraga, Calif. - A clutch hit in the 12th by freshman Jed Sprague and a masterful pitching performance out of the Tigers' seniors Michael Hager and Michael Benson earned the Pacific a hard fought win as the team downed Saint Mary's, 2-1 in 12 innings, on Sunday, March 15. With the win the Tigers salvaged a game in Moraga and improved to 2-16 on the year and 1-2 in WCC play while the Gaels fell to 12-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

After two games of offense, Sunday's contest became a classic pitchers' duel between the senior Michael Benson and the Gaels' sophomore Cameron Neff. Matching each other nearly pitch for pitch, the two starters combined to give up just nine hits and one run as the battled each other into the seventh before Benson's departure. Leaving with the lead, Benson went 6.0 IP while scattering just four hits and hitting one batter while striking out two and throwing an efficient 68 pitches. On the other side of the bump, Neff departed in the top of the eighth after getting the first out of the inning. He went 7.1 IP while giving up five hits and one run while striking out 10 and walking one. The two would both pick up no-decisions in the game as the contest needed extra innings before a winner was decided.

Tied at 1-1, the Tigers mounted what would be the game-winning rally in the top of the 12th inning when they cashed in a leadoff walk to freshman Nate Verlin. Entering the game as a pinch runner, sophomore Jimmy Boras came in to score the go ahead and game-winning run when Sprague delivered a double off the wall with one out in the inning. Sprague's double was his first hit of the game and proved to be his second game-winning hit in just over a week.

Prior to the extra-inning fun, the Tigers had scored first as they broke up the scoreless tie in the top of the seventh with a two-out rally. Pacific was finally able to string together a pair of hits against Neff. Starting the rally off, junior Louis Mejia hit a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield to put a runner on. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Mejia would score the run on another ground ball single, this time up the middle by Verlin. The hit was Verlin's second of the day as the freshman also came up with two big defensive plays in the bottom half of the inning as the Gaels attempted to rally against junior closer Vince Arobio for the first time.

The attempted rally in the eighth showed a glimpse of what was to come as the Tigers could not hold the lead as the Gaels were able to plate a single unearned run in the bottom of the ninth against Arobio who was going for the nine-out save. The run came on a safety squeeze after the Gaels led the inning off with a pinch hit double by Matt Toscano. The freshman was able to move to third on a passed ball in the next at bat before coming in to score on the bunt. Making the run hurt more, the Tigers had just missed putting some insurance on the board in the top half of the inning as Pacific loaded the bases with just one out but were stymied by Billy Oxford (1-2) who was able to induce an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam. 

Pacific was able to get out of its own bases loaded jam in the 11th when Hager (1-2) came in with one out and proceeded to strikeout Nikko Saenz before inducing a dribbler in front of the plate by Brett Rasso to end the threat. He would finish off the Tigers' victory in the 12th when he struck out the heart of the Gaels' order after giving up a leadoff double. The win was Hager's first of the season as the big righty stuck out four in 1.2 IP out of the pen. Oxford suffered the loss as he gave up the run in the 12th after pitching 3.2 IP as the fifth pitcher of the day for the Gaels.

Series Note: All three games were decided by just one run. In 2014 as first-time conference rivals, all three contests in Stockton were decided by just one run.

Pacific heads back to Stockton where the Tigers will host San Francisco in a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 21. The two teams meet under the lights at Klein Family Field with the opening contest scheduled for a 6:00 pm start.