Photo Taken By:  Tim Yarnell 

By: Ryan Lackey

NEWBERG, Ore. --- The Bruins completed the sweep of their three-game series with the Pacific University Boxers in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon. The 8-6 Bruin victory saw each team come from behind, a bizarre instance of a home run ruled an out at first, and a walkoff homer by Kadyn Nannini. Despite the theatrics, Nannini rightly carries the accolades, homering off of Boxers's reliever Cody Ahlgrimm to complete the Bruins's ninth-inning, three-pitch comeback win.

Recap:
The Bruins's starter, Liam Kent, went five-and-two-thirds innings and was effective, blanking the Boxers through the first three innings. The Bruins, meanwhile, began the scoring in the second when Nannini walked, advanced on Gabe Louthan's groundout, and scored when AJ Valencia sliced a double down the line. In the third the Bruins added two more as Caylen Clardy singled in Connor Newell and Brandon Wileman, and the Bruins seemed comfortably in control.

The Boxers pulled one back in the fourth, finally tagging Kent for a run on a sacrifice fly. But the Bruins maintained their lead in the bottom of the inning as Andrew Reichenbach scored on an error, and the score sat at 4-1. Over the fifth and sixth, both teams added one more run apiece – the Bruins on Clay Mott's RBI single – which made the score 5-2 when Pacific broke out.

Facing Bruin reliever Mason Dunning, the Boxers began the seventh by turning a hit-by-pitch, walk, and a Kurtis Kloke double into two runs. Shane Suyama singled in another run, and the game was tied, 5-5.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Bruins had the opportunity to put the game away, and, at first, seemed to capitalize. Louthan walked, and Reichenbach pummeled a ball deep into dead-center. Ben Duerr, the Boxer's center fielder, leapt at the wall and appeared to come down with a circus catch, falling onto the warning track with his body atop the glove. With no signal for either home run or out from the umpires, Louthan paused at second to avoid being doubled up, but Reichenbach kept going, and was called out for passing Louthan, who was allowed to score.

This brouhaha went into the scorebook as a (very, very long) single for Reichenbach, an unassisted putout on and a single RBI recorded as Louthan scored. The Bruins could've used the second run, though, because the Boxers, facing defeat in the top of the ninth, weren't yet finished.

With Sam Moreland on the mound for the Bruins, Kurtis Kloke led off the ninth by crushing a homer – and so the game was tied. Moreland did well to finish the inning without any more damage, but the Bruins had another lead gone.

But they didn't take long in the bottom of the ninth to make everything right. Mott picked out the first pitch from Ahlgrimm and singled. Newell took the first pitch to lay down a soft sacrifice bunt to move Mott to second. This actually proved unnecessary, as the next batter, Nannini, saw the first pitch and blasted it over the fence for a walkoff homer and an 8-6 Bruins victory.

Top Performers:
Nannini's performance was solid even without the dramatics of his walkoff: he finished 1-3 with two runs and two RBI. AJ Valencia went 3-5 with an RBI, and Clay Mott also racked up three hits, plus a run and an RBI. Reichenbach, even considering the absurdity of the near-homer, had a good day, going 1-3 with two runs, two walks, and an RBI. Caylen Clardy had two hits.

What It Means:
The Bruins have begun the 2016 season in perfect form, sweeping Pacific in the first series. With the 3-0 start in the regular season, the Bruins's record is 7-4 overall.

What Comes Next:
The Bruins go on the road Saturday for a three-game set against Willamette.