Carter Garate (Oregon) accomplished something every young baseball player dreams of when they’re playing Wiffle Ball in the backyard. It’s the fictitious situation that plays out a million times in a kid's head with a chance to win the game and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. While for many kids the dream includes a homer, Garate fulfilled his with a walk-off bunt.
Garate’s game-winning squeeze bunt to score Cameron Kim (UCLA) sent Red Wilson Field into a frenzy and capped a magical ninth inning where heroics from Garate and Ryan Sprock (Elon) flipped the script and gave Y-D a 4-3 win over Orleans.
Y-D had runners on the corners with two outs in the ninth when Sprock was selected off the bench to pinch hit. Sprock and the Red Sox were down to their last strike when the Elon product lunged and muscled a 3-2 pitch into right field to score Will Tippett (South Carolina) from third and tie the game at 3-3. Sprock exploded with emotion on first base and set the stage for Garate.
Garate watched as Sprock battled with Firebirds reliever Tucker Biven (Louisville) and was spoken to by Y-D manager Scott Pickler, who is now one win away from the illustrious 600 mark. “We talked in the on-deck circle and he said if the first baseman is back, look at me and I got the sign,” Garate said.
Orleans first baseman Landon Moran (Stetson) was playing behind the first base bag and Garate dropped down the first pitch he saw in a perfect place between Moran and Mike Mancini (James Madison) at second. Kim scored easily and Y-D stormed out of the third base side to celebrate with Garate.
Garate leaped into the arms of his teammates, who drenched him with water bottles and ripped his jersey off. His No. 12 jersey ended up in the hands of Gavin Gallaher (North Carolina), who paraded it around the infield grass. Garate was returned his uniform and was then doused with the Gatorade bucket filled with water by Caleb Anderson (Wichita State) during the postgame interview with Aylee Weiss.
“It was cool because I know it means a lot to these guys and I know I'm new, so if it means a lot to them, it means a lot to me,” Garate said.
Bunting in a big spot is nothing new for Garate, who dropped down a game-winning suicide squeeze on Saturday against Chatham that clinched first place in the East Division for the Red Sox.
Garate said he practices bunt situations during every practice at Oregon and shared, “I’ve come to learn the skill and it’s come in handy.” The Murrieta, California, product said it was his first ever walk-off in any level of baseball he’s played in.
The Red Sox had less than a 20% chance to win after Phoenix Call (UCLA) struck out for the second out in the ninth, but Sprock erased a seven-inning scoring drought with his game-tying single. Y-D had just four hits going into the ninth, but an offense-wide meeting before the inning began changed the complexity of the contest.
“We had a ton of confidence because we’ve done that same exact thing before,” Sprock said. “We knew once the ninth rolled around, that's all that matters. It doesn't matter the previous eight, so we had a good part of the order up for sure. We’re lucky to have a guy like [Ethan] Petry and Tony [Martinez] right after that, so we felt pretty confident. You kind of get the feeling that, especially with our lineup, that something like that can happen at any time.”
Sprock said, “I knew I had nothing to lose,” and indicated how he took advantage of an opportunity he hoped for all game long. Sprock fended off sliders early in the count and fouled away fastballs to stay alive before coming through in the clutch.
A member of the team since the beginning of the summer, Sprock has seen firsthand how the Red Sox thrive in close-game situations. Y-D picked up its 10th comeback win of the year on Tuesday and won its 17th contest in games decided by three or fewer runs. Sprock said the Red Sox are “1 million out of 10 on the resiliency scale.”
Martinez helped kick-start the rally in the ninth with a walk and began the scoring with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. Y-D is 17-3-2 when scoring first. Martinez extended his hitting-streak to eight games with the knock.
Martinez is hitting .297 with a .418 on-base percentage and .871 OPS since returning from the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team on July 5. He’s reached base safely in nine straight games and has worked to simplify his approach at the plate.
“I felt like I was trying to do too much when I first got here,” Martinez said.
Martinez watched Garate get dumped with ice-cold water and grinned ear-to-ear with a smile as his fellow West Coast product proved to be a worthy hero.
“I love this team, I love the guys, it’s been just an awesome ride,” Martinez said.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
