Tyler Schrader rips a 10th-inning walk-off single up the middle
Posted: Mar 13, 2020
Tyler Schrader sent a 2-2 pitch back up the middle in the bottom of the tenth to lead the West Valley baseball team to a thrilling 6-5 win over Chabot Thursday at Valhalla.
Schrader's heroics capped a stirring comeback for the Vikings (12-10, 3-2 Coast-North), who trailed 5-0 in the seventh. An epic home half of the seventh set the stage for the walk-off win.
The Gladiators (6-15, 2-3) put four runs on the board in the top of the seventh to take a 5-0 lead. It was all Vikings from there, as WVC sent ten batters to the plate in the bottom half of the frame.
Curran Ozawa-Burns singled to start the inning, the first of five straight West Valley hits. Steven Grizzle followed with a double that brought Ozawa-Burns home. Connor Leaverton singled, Kyle Riveron drove in Grizzle with a double, and Evan Meier ripped a two-run double. Jonathan Teschner evened the score at 5-5 with a single that scored Meier.
West Valley stranded runners on second and third in the eighth and, in the ninth with runners on first and second with one out. Viking reliever Brett Kleisinger gave up a single to open the top of the tenth and then set the Gladiatiors down in order.
The Viking tenth opened with a Riveron walk. Riveron advanced to second on a wild pitch and then moved to third on a Meier single. Another wild pitch moved Meier to second with no outs.
Up stepped Schrader, a pinch runner for Cole Murchison in the eighth. Schrader worked Chabot reliever Andres DeLeon to a 2-2 count and then sent a liner back up the middle, scoring Riveron and touching off a West Valley celebration in shallow right field that engulfed Schrader.
Meier finished 3-5 with two RBI, while Riveron was 2-3 with an RBI, and Teschner was 2-4 with an RBI. Mason Mooney had a strong three innings of relief, keeping Chabot off the board and striking out four Gladiators. Kleisinger picked up the win.
