SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – A marathon day for the Oregon Tech and Bushnell baseball teams ended in a Saturday doubleheader split, as the two teams capped a weekend series at Drifters Stadium.
 
Cade Crist lined a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 14th inning to lift the Beacons (11-6) to a 4-3 win in Game 1, while OIT scored 11 runs over their final three at bats to rally for an 11-5 win in the finale.
 
The opener marked the longest game play by the Hustlin' Owls (13-9) in 10 years and the second-longest in program history.
 
OIT tied the score in the eighth on a Brodie Marino RBI single and sent the game to extra innings as Julien Jones threw out the potential winning run at the plate with two outs in the ninth.
 
Neither team had a runner to third base until the 14th inning, as a 2-out walk and single gave Crist a chance – as the Beacons first baseman lining a base hit to end the contest.
 
Tech scored single runs in the opening two innings – plating a run on a Matt Ortiz first inning bloop single and doubling the lead in the second on an Ian Peters solo homer. BU used a 3-run fifth, capped by a Jeff Delozier RBI single, to take the lead.
 
Braeden Bellum threw six innings of shutout relief for OIT, allowing just four hits and fanning two. Ortiz, Jones, Sean Tobin and Korrey Siracusa each had two hits for the Owls. The duo of Colby Knutzen and Jayden Soriano combined to toss 4-hit ball over the final six innings to keep the visitors at bay.
 
The Beacons controlled the first six innings of Game 2, taking a 3-0 lead into the seventh on the strength of a Dylan Carson homer and five shutout innings from Adam Sabatino.
 
The Owls responded in the seventh, as a 2-out RBI single from Jones got the visitors on the board. Marino followed with a pinch hit drive down the right field line that Carson overran – allowing three runs to score – giving OIT the lead.
 
Tyler Horner extended the lead to 6-3 with an eighth inning 2-run single, with the Owls scoring five runs in the ninth – taking advantage of four walks and three wild pitches from the BU pen – adding run scoring hits from Ortiz and Horner.
 
Brendan Talonen was dominant in relief, tossing four shutout innings, to earn his third win of 2023. Horner was 2-for-4 with three RBI, Siracusa was 2-for-2 with three runs scored, with Peters, Ortiz, Tobin and Dane Bradshaw all adding two hits.
 
OIT continues their 26-game road trip to open the season next weekend, traveling to Eastern Oregon for a 4-game Cascade Conference series.