After a pair of lopsided wins to start the season, California found itself in a nail-biter against Warsaw on Thursday night.
The game's first six innings saw the teams score one run combined as California's Jacob Wolken and Warsaw's Cash Miller were both dealing on the mound.
After the Wildcats plated two in the top of the seventh to go up a run, the Pintos got a pair of baserunners in the bottom half after both hitters reached via walks.
That set the stage for sophomore Hayden Green.
With two outs and runners on second and third, Green smacked a pitch into the left-center gap to give himself a double and give the Pintos a walk-off 3-2 win.
"I was just looking fastball," Green said. "The first two pitches were mine, but I just missed them. That third pitch was in the same spot and I just nailed it."
Green, who had been hitting lower in the order previously this season, was in the leadoff spot against Warsaw. As the only Pintos batter to get four plate appearances, the move to shuffle Green up in the lineup paid off in a big way.
"(Hayden) really has a bright future ahead of him," California coach Matt Moulder said. "I'm really excited to see him bust through and have that big moment to solidify, in his mind, that he truly belongs and he's that truly a high-level varsity player, because he is. It's exciting to see him step up in that moment."
Although the Pintos were patient at the dish in the final frame against Miller, they were forced to be aggressive on the basepaths in the middle innings.
California's first run came when Jon Pardoe stole second base to get into scoring position. Pardoe, then, darted to third base on a wild pitch and came home when the throw to third ended up in the outfield.
"(Miller) was throwing extremely well," Moulder said. "He has nice velocity. We hit the ball on the nose a few times and they made some nice plays. We made a couple base-running blunders. But, if we make a mistake, we want to make it an aggressive mistake. We'll live with those."
The Pintos got a strong performance from their own starter in Wolken, who went five and two-thirds, allowing no runs on one hit and seven walks while striking out five. In his first outing of the season, Wolken's control wasn't razor sharp, but he got out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings, stranding two runners in each frame.
"(Jacob) was throwing well and wiggled out of some jams for us," Moulder said. "He talked me into staying out there a little longer than I initially planned, but he's a competitor and he's going to find a way to give you his all. He wasn't locating tremendously well, but he was gritty and found a way to make pitches when he had to."
Prior to Green's game-winning double, every Pintos hit had been a single. Catcher Sam Kirby, moved up to the two slot in the order, had a pair of hits. Pardoe and Cory Stephens accounted for the two others.
The winning pitcher was Isaac Wells, who came in for Wolken with two outs in the sixth. Wells got out of the sixth inning jam with an immediate ground ball. Both Warsaw runs scored in the seventh were unearned. The victory gave Wells his second win of the season.