QUINCY--This one lived up to the hype and then some, with a Hollywood ending to boot.
Jared Stevenson blasted a walk-off, grand slam home run deep over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth inning to set off a wild celebration at the Eagles Nest, securing an 8-6 Feather River win over Butte College on Thursday afternoon. Stevenson's blast with one out helps clinch at no worse a share of the 2024 Golden Valley Conference title for the Golden Eagles, with one game left to play.
Feather River and Butte will square off again tomorrow, this time at the Roadrunners home park in Oroville at 2 pm. Heading into this final game of the regular season, FRC is 20-4 in the GVC and 31-7 overall. Butte is now 19-5 in conference play and 27-11 on the year.
Stevenson came into Thursday's game with six home runs on the season and 51 runs batted. None of those home runs or RBI this year, or in his life, were as big as his ninth inning clutch bomb today and the four runs he accounted for.
With FRC leading 3-1 through six innings, the Roadrunners put up two runs in the seventh and three runs in the eighth to take a 6-3 lead. The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the eighth, but couldn't plate a run sending the game into the ninth.
In the bottom half with one out, Kolt Kurzman sliced a double to left. Dylan Marx brough him home with a single to make it 6-4. An error and a hit batter loaded the bases for Stevenson. After a pitching change added to the drama, and with a 1-2 count, Stevenson's climatic home run ended the game abruptly and set off a celebration in front of 269 fans that rivaled any in the history of the Eagles Nest.
Earlier in the game, FRC starting pitcher Tyler Stolfich put the Golden Eagles in a good position with six solid innings of work. He allowed only three hits, one run and he struck out five. In the end, it was Trey Smith toeing the rubber in the top of the ninth with a scoreless inning and earned the win to improve to 6-1.
Offensively, the Golden Eagles had eight hits, three of them in the ninth inning. Marx had two hits as did Shane Danley.
The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the CCCAA North ranking, will head to Oroville to take on the No. 4 Roadrunners with a outright opportunity to win the GVC title outright.
