Walk-Off Sac Fly Sends No. 4 Baker to Heart Championship

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A sac fly RBI from Reese Curry secured No. 4 Baker's second straight walk-off victory over No. 5 Benedictine with a 5-4 win on Saturday to send the Wildcats to the Heart Championship for the first time since 2019.

Baker moves on to face No. 2 Grand View in the conference title match tomorrow (May 4) at 12 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Wildcats fell to the Vikings in the Heart Semifinals earlier in the day on Saturday.

BU overcame a 4-1 deficit to the Ravens with three runs in the sixth before Curry's game-winner in the bottom of the seventh that scored Rachel Pederson and completed the Wildcats' come-from-behind victory. Baker defeated the Ravens on a walk-off hit on Thursday in the first game of the conference tournament.

Curry and Sydney Erlandson combined to drive in four of Baker's five runs in the game with Erlandson going 2-for-3 at the plate, while Curry opened up the scoring with an RBI groundout on a sharply hit ball to first in the bottom of the third.

Making her first start of the tournament, Tess Eubank strung together four straight scoreless innings before running into trouble in the top of the fifth. Eubank finished with four strikeouts in her seventh complete-game outing of the year.

The Ravens connected on a couple of extra-base hits in the fifth with a two-run double putting them ahead, followed by a two-run home run to extend their lead to 4-1.

Baker responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth with Savannah Bray and Ava Greiner reeling off back-to-back hits to lead off the inning. Greiner drove in Bray on an RBI double for her third extra-base hit against the Ravens this season.

Later on in the inning with the bases loaded, Erlandson came through with a huge two-out, two-run single to tie the game at 4-4 and erase BU's three-run deficit.

Pederson opened up the bottom of the seventh with her first hit of the ballgame to set the wheels in motion. Greiner followed with a one-out walk and a BC error loaded the bases for Curry.

The senior outfielder took the first pitch she saw to the opposite field, tailing towards the right-field line, which allowed Pederson enough time to slide in safely and send BU to the title game in walk-off fashion.

The Wildcats fell victim to a walk-off sac fly earlier in the day, getting knocked off by No. 2 Grand View, 3-2 in the Heart Semifinals to begin their Saturday. A rollercoaster seventh inning ended in heartbreak for BU as the Vikings plated the winning run on a walk-off sac fly RBI to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the tournament.

Baker had taken the lead in the top of the seventh with a game-tying home run from Ashlee Jackman, followed by an RBI single from Braxton Stainbrook to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead before GVU spoiled things in the bottom half.

Sunday's game will be BU's first appearance in the Heart Championship since 2019, when the Wildcats won the conference tournament and swept the league titles for the first time in program history. Coincidentally, Baker defeated Grand View in the championship game that year, 3-1.

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