Davis, Calif. - February 28th and 29th, 2020 were supposed to be the first two games of a scheduled three-game series with Loyola Marymount for UC Davis. And there was plenty of reason for optimism for the Aggies.
They were on a four-game win streak having just taken three of four from North Dakota State the previous week and put up a season-high nine runs at Pacific on February 25th. LMU advanced to the Los Angeles Super Regional final in 2019 and this would be the first big test for the Aggies in the young season.
Little did anyone in either dugout know, it would take every second of daylight on both of those days before the Aggies walked off with a 3-2 win in the bottom of the 24th inning. The game set a new Big West Conference record for most innings played and fell just short of the NCAA record.
Over a two-part series covering both days, relive the big moments at Dobbins Stadium through the eyes of the players who made them.
On February 28th at 2:01 p.m., UC Davis right-hander Brett Erwin fires a strike to LMU left fielder Kenny Oyama for the first pitch of the game. In his first two starts of the season, Erwin had proven up to the task of Friday starter and gone 5 1/3 and 5 2/3 innings.
Erwin: "I was feeling good going into my start that day. Went through my pregame routine I do before every start and everything was feeling good. Little did I now what was in store for all of us."
Erwin gets Oyama to ground to shortstop but runs into traffic after. A walk and a single puts runners at the corners and a steal gives LMU two runners in scoring position with one out. Erwin battles back to get ahead of future Major League Baseball draftee Cooper Uhl and force a pop up to short and get to two outs. But on a 3-2 pitch to the ensuing batter, a throwing error at shortstop allows both runs to score and LMU take an early 0-2 lead.
The Aggies quickly answer back in the bottom of the first. Tanner Murray leads off with a double, advances to third on a wild pitch and later scores on a sacrifice fly by Logan Denholm. Erwin settles in and pitches scoreless second, third and fourth innings with the score 1-2.
Murray: "First thought I had was 'Alright these guys are definitely who we thought they were.' Coming off a postseason run like they had, we knew we might be in a little trouble getting down two early. Them scoring two runs means that the pitcher is really going to try to get ahead with a fastball and that's what he threw me and I sneaked it past the third baseman for a double. It definitely gave our team some life and showed that we can play with these guys."
Erwin: "After the first inning, I collected myself and knew that I could only control the game one pitch at a time and whatever happens after I release the ball isn't in my hands anymore and I trusted my defense behind me. (After the runs in the first inning) I knew I just had to keep our offense in striking distance because we were capable of putting up runs any given inning, no matter where we were in our batting order."
After an adventurous top of the fourth, LMU's Dylan Hirsch hits a single off Erwin to lead off the top of the fifth and prompt a pitching change. UC Davis head coach Matt Vaughn signals for freshman right-hander Kaden Riccomini out of the bullpen.
Erwin: "I wish I could have stayed in the game a little longer, but I trust the coaching staff and their decisions and I have complete trust in our bullpen. So leaving the game when I did, I had no worries were going to come back with how close the game was. The bullpen did not let me down to say the least. They were amazing and this game showed how tough our team really was."
Riccomini: "I got sent down to start warming up in the top of the fourth, so I was down there for a little while. That was nice since I was able to really get a good feel for everything. Warming up felt very normal. At the time we were down 2-1 so I was just preparing myself to keep the score where it was and give our guys the best chance to either tie the game or take the lead."
Riccomini comes through with three straight outs to get out of the top of the fifth. Another freshman, first baseman Mike Campagna, steps to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the inning with the Aggies still trailing 1-2.
Campagna: "We were losing by one in the middle of the game and I wanted to start a rally because I was leading off the inning. This was the first game I got to start so I knew I had to take advantage of my opportunity. I saw a curveball and I decided to look for that same pitch again. He threw another curveball that was a little up in the zone and I didn't miss it."
On the second pitch of the at-bat, Campagna blasts a loud home run to left field. It's the first of his career and shifts the momentum firmly back to the home dugout.
Campagna: "I knew off the bat that I got all of it and it felt really good. I think I surprised myself because I knew I hit it well but I didn't think it was a home run. When I saw it go over, I was ecstatic, I didn't know what to think when I was rounding the bases. I was surprised how loud the stadium was after I hit that ball. That was one of the coolest moments I have had on the baseball field."
Murray: "Campagna's homer really saved us. It was right at the beginning of all the zeroes and moved the momentum to our side even though it didn't quite show up on the scorecard for two days. It was really awesome to see that guy finally hit one out. He had hit a couple during practice and plenty during BP, but to see him get one during a game was pretty cool. He couldn't stop smiling for a good five or six innings."
With the score now tied 2-2, Riccomini goes back to work on the mound. The freshman pitches an uneventful top of the sixth before running into what would become the biggest moment of his young Aggie career. LMU's Alex Lambeau leads off the inning with a single to third. Hirsch sacrifices him to second and Oyama walks to put two men on. The Lions pull off a double steal and Riccomini and the Aggies are now staring at runners at second and third with one out. LMU's Cole Roberts puts a ball in play and Aggie third baseman Kyler Arenado throws out Lambeau at home for the second out of the inning. Riccomini then gets ahead of Trevin Esquerra 1-2 and forces him to roll over to short to get UC Davis back to the dugout with the score still tied at two.
Riccomini goes on to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth inning before giving way to Nick Johnson.
Riccomini: "Getting out of the jam felt great since we tied the game up a couple innings prior. I got a lot of help from our defense. Kyler made a good play to get the would-be go ahead run out at home to keep us tied and give us a chance to get out of the inning cleanly. Getting out of a situation like that really can give everyone a lot of confidence and swing the momentum in our direction.
"I had a good feeling leaving the mound in the top of the eighth. We did what we needed to do and got the game tied up and put ourselves in a good position with our closer coming in the game only needing to score one run in the eighth or ninth to win. Ideally, that is how it would have went but as you know, it took us a couple more innings to get that result."
Meanwhile a stalemate that would last into the next day was just beginning. After Campagna's home run in the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies get a runner on base in the sixth, seventh, eighth, 11th and 13th innings. In the bottom of the eleventh, UC Davis gets as close as loading the bases with two outs following a double by Spencer Gedestad, a walk by Alejandro Lara and a walk by J.D. Mico.
LMU has far less luck against Johnson. The Aggie closer allows just two hits and induces two double-plays en route to throwing a career-high five innings to take UC Davis through the top half of the 13th inning. The bottom of the 13th ends with Gedestad thrown out stealing second base. With the sun having set behind the Pavilion, a meeting is called and it's decided the game will be paused and resumed the next day at 1 p.m. with the previously scheduled second game of the series to come right after.
Jalen Smith (Double in the bottom of the sixth, walk in the eighth): "My initial thought was 'Wow I hope that doesn't happen tomorrow.' However, I thought we played really well - especially our pitchers. We just couldn't manage to score a run but that's just baseball."
Mico (Single in the bottom of the fifth, walk in the eleventh): "My initial reactions when the game was called were mixed. I was tired and it was really dark so I was glad in that sense, but being a competitor I was really trying to get the game done because we had so many chances to win it and I felt like every inning we kept going back into the dugout we were going to figure out a way to finish it. I was happy to come out the next day because we had played a few double-headers already and I knew we had a good chance to start that game fresh again and figure out a way to scrap out a win like we had all year long."
In tomorrow's Part II, the Aggies recount the second day of the longest game in Big West Conference history.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley.
The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
