STOCKTON, Calif. – On an afternoon filled with ceremony and celebration for the Pacific baseball team's five honored seniors, junior
Drake Bicknell delivered the walk-off hit that lifted Pacific over Santa Clara, 4-3, on Senior Day at Klein Field.
The Tigers (11-44, 5-19 WCC) capped the final regular season contest on a high note, defeating the Broncos (26-25, 12-12 WCC) with the team's fourth walk-off victory of the season.
"I'm proud of these guys," Pacific head coach
Chris Rodriguez said. "They never quit. No matter the score, there was no quit in this team. I know we threw young guys out all year long, but I told the seniors that I want to thank them for their time here at Pacific. They really represented this school and program the right way."
With a pinch-hit, two-out double in the final at-bat of the season, Bicknell sent his teammates and the Tiger fans home happy.
"I'm just happy to end this game on a positive note," Bicknell said. "I knew I was going to get a fastball to hit. I stayed aggressive and put my best swing on it."
The Tigers were trailing 3-0 before breaking through in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double down the left field line by sophomore
Tony Otis that brought home the Tigers' first run of the day. Sophomore
Andrew Sloan legged out an infield hit that sprung a chance for Otis to score and he did just that, making it a one-run ball game going into the ninth inning.
After a shutdown top of the ninth inning by redshirt sophomore
Austin McKinney, who picked up his second win of the season, the Tigers came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
Senior
Jacob Weiss put together a spirited at-bat, drawing a lead-off walk. Senior
Telly Hill followed Weiss with a base hit to set the table. With two outs, Bicknell wasted little time, smashing a double to deep left center field that sent home the two seniors in Weiss and Hill and secured the 4-3 victory in the season finale.
Sophomore
Jackson Lux made his first start of the season, going 3.1 innings and allowing one earned run on three hits.
The Tigers ended the season with the walk-off victory at home and look forward to building around the young core of talent for the 2025 season.
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