Bloxom's Walk-Off Lifts Cats Past No. 11 Irvine
Apr 24, 2008 | Baseball
The walk-off home run by Bloxom was
With the game tied at seven,
Following a scoreless 10th, the Anteaters had an opportunity to take the lead in the 11th as Thomas Rooke (5-1) gave up a leadoff walk to Erick Deragisch. However, Deragisch was thrown out a second by Rooke on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Casey Stevenson. Stevenson was then caught stealing and Rooke forced an Aaron Lowenstein fly out to end the frame.
UC Irvine closer Eric Pettis (3-1), who came on in relief to begin the ninth inning, struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom half of the inning. Nate Tenbrink was next and forced a full-pitch walk to keep the Wildcat inning alive. Bloxom followed and fought off three pitches on a full count before he blasted a ball to opposite field for the game-winner.
Jason King and Drew Biery recorded multi-hit games for K-State, as each went 2-for-5 with one RBI. Carter Jurica, Byron Wiley and Scott also collected RBI for the Cats.
Rooke picked up the win in relief as the freshman lefty shut down the Anteaters in the ninth and 10th innings, allowing one walk and forcing a pair of groundouts and fly outs.
Jurica followed with a single to right field, scoring Tenbrink and moving Bloxom to third. Jurica then stole second base during King’s at bat, which resulted in a RBI single to right, scoring Bloxom and knocking Bibona out of the game. Kyle Necke came on in relief and got an out by way of a foul fly. Scott followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, which moved King to third and scored Jurica to make the game 5-0.
The Anteaters came out and scratched across one run in the second as K-State starter A.J. Morris hit Dillon Bell with out one. Bell then advanced to second on a groundball and scored on a Josh Tavelli down the right-field line to make the score 5-1.
K-State got one of the runs back in the fourth inning when Scott walked and Cruz followed with a single to center, which Linton misplayed in the outfield to allow both Scott and Cruz to take an extra base. Wiley came on to pinch hit and ripped the ball back through the box off the pitcher, which allowed Scott to score and make the game 6-3.
UC Irvine would not go away as the Eaters scored single runs in the sixth and seventh. Larson led the sixth off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored when
The Wildcats looked as if they picked up an insurance run in the seventh as King doubled down the left-field line and scored on a Drew Biery single to extend the lead to two at 7-5.
In the top of the eighth, Tony Asaro hit a full-count pitch to right centerfield for a one-out double and was then lifted for a pinch runner in Tyler Hoechlin. Tavelli was scheduled to bat next, but he was removed for Brock Bardeen. The move paid off for the Anteaters as the lefty pull a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall to tie the game at seven.
