Usually, no matter the result, University of the Pacific players make the same postgame run from the foul pole to the fence.
It’s a tradition the Tigers started after a “pow wow” on April 6.
This time, the ending made that unnecessary. After the postgame huddle, Pacific walked directly toward the dugout and locker room at Scottsdale Stadium, smiling with every confident step.
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Senior Jake Tandy made sure of that, crushing a walk-off grand slam to lift the Pacific past No. 3 seed San Francisco 8-4 on Thursday, May 21, for the program’s first-ever West Coast Conference Tournament win.
The Tigers now move on to face No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s in the winner’s bracket at 2 p.m. Friday at Scottsdale Stadium on ESPN+.
“I was looking for a pitch over the middle of the plate,” Tandy said. “I was ready for it and I attacked it. This is all the momentum we need going forward as a squad to know that we can do it and hang with the best of the best. We are going to keep it rolling.”
The WCC All-Conference First Team selection’s latest blast was his third career grand slam against the Dons. Two of those have now ended games, including an 8-6 win on April 18, 2025, at Klein Family Field.
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“We just have so much confidence one through nine in the lineup,” Tandy said on the ESPN+ broadcast. “I knew my guys would get on base for me, and I knew I was going to have an important at-bat. I was happy to get my pitch and hit it hard.”
Senior Zach Todd gave Pacific exactly what it needed, delivering a quality start with 6 2/3 innings, five strikeouts and just two earned runs allowed on five hits.
Junior Regan Carter followed by securing the program’s first-ever West Coast Conference Tournament win.
“It was a big win,” coach Reed Peters said. “Pitching-wise, it was a great job by our starter, Zach Todd. We answered the call. Every time they scored, we scored. That’s what good teams do. Tandy with the grand slam. Exactly what we needed. Hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
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Peters wasn’t exaggerating. Every time the Dons scored, Pacific had an immediate answer.
The Dons grabbed the lead in the second on a sacrifice fly, but Pacific quickly flipped things in the bottom half when junior Braeden Schnabel, who had a team-high three hits, and senior Grant MacArthur scored on Blaine French’s two-RBI single.
The Dons tied it with a home run in the sixth.
Pacific, though, answered yet again, this time on JT Shank’s towering two-run shot to right-center to reclaim a 4-2 lead in the bottom half.
So when San Francisco tied it again in the ninth, it almost felt inevitable what was coming next.
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“It’s just all the momentum we need,” Tandy said on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We’re just going to keep it going and keep making history for this program. Job’s not done.”
With the bases loaded, the right man was walking to the plate.
Not because he was an All-WCC first-team selection. Not because of the .327 average or 49 RBIs. Not because he’d climbed into Pacific’s single-season top 10 in RBIs.
Because he’d been there.
Through the losses. Through the rebuild. Through the climb.
Tandy is one of only three players remaining from Pacific’s 2023 roster, and one of seven who were part of the 2024 team.
“It’s everything I’ve worked for all these years,” Tandy said on the ESPN+ broadcast. “It’s finally coming to fruition. It feels really good knowing all the hard work is paying off.”
This article originally appeared on The Record: Pacific baseball wins first-ever WCC Tournament game on walk-off homer
