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The Pac-12 Baseball Tournament is the last championship event in the history of a conference that has roots dating back to 1915 (Pacific Coast Conference). The conference went out in style with a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th of its last tournament.
Arizona, ranked No. 21 in the country, faced USC for the Pac-12 Tournament championship. The Trojans jumped out to an early lead, scoring 1 in the 3rd inning and adding 2 more in the top of the 4th.
It remained a 3-0 game past the 7th inning stretch. In the bottom of the 7th, Arizona got on the board with a sac fly.
It turned out to be the first of three consecutive innings the Wildcats would score. Arizona pulled even in the bottom of the 8th with an RBI single to cut it to 3-2 and another sac fly to tie it up 3-3.
In the bottom of the 9th, Blake McDonald reached on a 1-out single. Emilio Corona pinch ran for McDonald, and stole second base. Andrew Cain was intentionally walked, bringing up Tommy Splaine.
On a 2-1 count, Splaine singled to left, plating Corona to end the ball game and effectively turn the lights out on the Pac-12.
It’s the end of an era, but what a way to go.
Arizona walks off USC to win the Pac-12 tourney title. As it stands, this was the final sporting event ever for a conference that was formed more than 100 years ago. pic.twitter.com/Im1PD1okbD
— ESPN (@espn) May 26, 2024
As winners of the Pac-12 Tournament, Arizona secures an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Baseball America’s Sunday projected field of 64 has Arizona as a 2-seed in the Santa Barbara Regional, hosted by UC Santa Barbara. USC, with an RPI of No. 74, needed the automatic bid to make the NCAA Tournament.
Out of the Pac-12, Oregon and Oregon State are also projected to make the field, with OSU likely hosting a Corvallis Regional.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
