PORTLAND (Interstat) — A rain delay, a late-inning comeback and a wild pitch in the 12th inning gave the Portland Pilots a 3-2 victory over the Pacific Tigers on Friday, May 15, 2026, at Joe Etzel Field.

The game was delayed 16 minutes in the bottom of the first inning, but the pitchers on both sides quickly dried off and settled into a tense duel. Pacific starter Adan Perez was dominant over seven innings, allowing no hits and one earned run while striking out nine. Portland’s Trey Newmann countered with 5 1/3 innings of five-hit, two-run ball with six strikeouts, but it was reliever Kaden Segel who earned the top star for the Pilots. Segel threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing five hits and striking out two.

Pacific struck first in the top of the sixth. Brendan O’Sullivan singled, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a single by Jake Tandy. JT Shank walked and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grant MacArthur, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Portland finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Liam Smith, who had replaced Perez. Trey Swygart singled and later scored on a fielder’s choice, but the Pilots stranded two runners and trailed 2-1 entering the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Smith allowed a leadoff single to Aaron Louis, who was replaced by pinch runner Gage Bruce. After a flyout, Nolan Miller singled to move Bruce to third. Pinch runner Frankie Rutigliano replaced Miller, and Cody Nitowitz lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bruce and tying the game 2-2. Smith struck out Cole KatayamaStall to end the inning.

The game moved to extra innings, and both teams squandered scoring chances. In the 10th, Pacific’s Robert Orr singled and advanced on a sacrifice bunt but was thrown out at third. In the bottom half, Portland’s Brady Bean walked but was caught stealing. The 11th inning saw Pacific’s Shank caught stealing after a single, and Portland left a runner on base.

In the top of the 12th, Pacific’s Braeden Schnabel singled and Blaine French singled, but a groundout ended the threat. Smith returned for the bottom of the 12th but walked KatayamaStall and Swygart to start the inning. Connor Raridan relieved Smith and immediately threw two wild pitches. The first moved runners to second and third, and the second allowed KatayamaStall to score the winning run from third, giving Portland a 3-2 walk-off victory.

O’Sullivan, Orr and Tandy each had two hits for Pacific, which outhit Portland 10-8. Swygart went 2 for 5 with an RBI for the Pilots. The Tigers fell to 23-26-1, while the Pilots improved to 26-25.

Pacific had won the previous game against Portland 7-5 on Thursday, but the Pilots evened the series. The two teams meet again Saturday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Pacific 6, Portland 3, and Interstat’s ELO system had given Portland a 74.80 percent probability to win.