Atherton, CA:

A wild back and forth affair swung Oregon Tech's way in the finale of a four game weekend conference set.  Trailing 7-5 going into the bottom of the 9^th, the Owls posted a three spot to complete a dramatic comeback, winning by a final of 8-7.  The come from behind victory salvaged a split for OIT as the Owls now improve to 4-4 in the Cascade with an overall record of 10-14.  The loss puts the Oaks at 6-10 in the conference and 9-19 overall.

Down to their final out and trailing by a run, Oregon Tech had runners on the corners with Dylan Rogers at the dish.  Facing Menlo's Alex Tenorio, Rogers blooped a two-strike pitch right up the middle, brining the tying run to the plate in the form of Alex Reynolds.  Zack Earle followed Rogers' heroics with some of his own, grounding one off the glove of a diving James Threw in the hole at short, pushing Ryan Hayden home with the winning run. 

Not to be lost in the midst of OIT's impressive comeback, was the sterling comeback that the Oaks staged just innings earlier.  Menlo found themselves in a 5-0 hole entering the top of the 6^th, but their never say die attitude got them right back in the thick of things. 

Ty Finley started it off with his first home run of the season, a laser into the trees in left for the first Menlo run.  Two batters later, Mickey Phelps reached with a knock and then promptly stole second.  James Threw followed with an RBI single, cutting the deficit to 5-2.  Next stood Collin Forgey, who continued his torrid pace of late, lining a double into right center to bring Threw around with Menlo's third run of the frame.  Coming off a three home run, nine RBI showing on Saturday, Forgey finished this afternoon's tilt going 4-for-4 with two more runs batted in. 

The Oaks officially knotted the score in the top of the 7^th with a game tying two-run base hit by Finley, plating Michael Brandi and Taylor Cohn who had reached earlier with walks in the inning.  Menlo broke the tie in the 8^th with an RBI single by the aforementioned Collin Forgey, and added an insurance run with a Brandi run scoring single to score Forgey.      

Both 8^th inning runs were off of senior Zack Earle, but a scoreless top of the 9^th gave the Medford, Oregon native the victory.  Alex Tenorio, who tossed a scoreless 7^th and 8^th with three strikeouts ended up as the game's losing pitcher.

The Oaks will look to bounce back following the tough defeat as they set their sights on conference opponent Patten University next weekend at Cartan Field.  The first of four will get going on Friday, March 23^rd at 2:30pm.