Allen's walk-off homer leads Cal Poly over Pepperdine

Posted: May 1, 2012 10:40 PM by Bill Halter
Updated: May 1, 2012 11:05 PM

Allen hits walk-off home run for Cal Poly baseball

Cal Poly sophomore third baseman Jimmy Allen ended a highly entertaining game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Mustangs a 2-1 home win against Pepperdine. The win is Cal Poly's fourth straight and improves them to 26-17 on the season. It's an important win for the Mustangs postseason chances as Pepperdine is a good team, the Waves are now 24-17.

Pepperdine scored on a balk from Cal Poly starter Bryan Granger in the third inning. Cal Poly tied the game on an Allen sacrifice fly in the fourth. From there the game was filled with twists and turns.

In the fifth, Pepperdine had runners at second and third with one out. Cal Poly shortstop Mike Miller fielded a chopper and threw a runner out at the plate. The Waves then loaded the bases before freshman pitcher Matt Imhoff recorded the third out with a strikeout.

In the seventh, Pepperdine had a runner on second base with one out. Right fielder Nick Torres fielded a base hit and threw home to gun the runner attempting to score at the plate. Catcher Chris Hoo then threw to second and doubled up the batter who had over run the base.

In the bottom of the ninth the Mustangs put together a two-out rally and loaded the bases for Miller. The lead-off hitter worked the count to 2-2 before watching a called third strike.

The game went to extra innings and in the top of the 10th, Pepperdine got runners to first and third with one out. Cal Poly redshirt freshman pitcher Reid Reilly struck out a batter and then induced a ground ball to get out of the jam. Reilly (4-1) pitched three shutout innings and earned his fourth win of the season because of what happened in the bottom of the 10th.

After Tim Wise and Mitch Haniger got out to start the frame, Allen stepped up with two outs and nobody on. Allen took the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center to end the game. It was Allen's third homer of the season.

Pepperdine out hit Cal Poly 10-7, the Mustangs used five pitchers compared to just three for the Waves.

Cal Poly is back on the road this weekend, the Mustangs play a three game series at UC-Davis starting on Friday. The Aggies are 4-8 in the Big West conference and 16-23 overall. Cal Poly is 9-6 in the conference, tied with UCSB for third place.