SEATTLE — A walk-off home run by Connor O'Brien lifted Seattle U baseball to an 8-6 victory on Friday, as the Redhawks hosted Pacific Lutheran at Bannerwood Park. With the result, Seattle U improved to 9-13 on the year and picked up its third-consecutive win.
Trailing 6-4 in the ninth, the Lutes scratched two runs on two hits to tie the game. Seattle U was then left empty-handed in the home half pushing the game to extras.
Redhawks reliever Nestor German made quick work of the Pacific Lutheran, as he retired the side with an eight-pitch outing. German was eventually credited with the victory, moving his record to 3-2.
In the bottom of the 10th, Kyle Sherick reached on a lead off double. His stay though was brief as O'Brien belted the 1-0 pitch over the fence in left-center field for the deciding runs. The shot was O'Brien third home run of the season and fourth of his career.
"Although it wasn't pretty, I'm happy that we were able to get the win tonight," said Redhawks head coach Donny Harrel. "I thought we lacked focus and didn't battle at times and that showed in our pitching and the way we were chasing tonight at the plate. PLU is a good team and they put up a darn good effort and almost had us. As we get back to conference play, we'll hopefully learn from this."
Pacific Lutheran led twice during the afternoon, as it opened the scoring with two-runs in the third before striking twice more in the fifth for a 4-3 advantage.
Seattle U claimed a 3-2 advantage in the fourth as Chase Wells punched a single to right allowing Sherick and Justin Mazzone to score on the play. The initial Redhawk run was accounted for by Andrew Haight in the third.
Down a run in the home half of the sixth, O'Brien drove-in the tying tally, making it 4-4. Then in the eighth, Mazzone and Sherick scored again to make it 6-4, as both runs were the product of a hit by pitch while Seattle U had the bases loaded.
On the mound, the Redhawks utilized four pitchers before turning to German in the 10th. Morgan White began the game as he tossed three innings, before Kohl Petersen worked the fourth and fifth. Alex Jemal then threw three scoreless-innings, before Lucas Ford worked the ninth.
Seattle U is slated to resume Western Athletic Conference next week as it hosts a four-game series with conference-newcomer Tarleton, April 9-11, at Bannerwood Park.