Walk-off balk ends 21-inning game with Northern Coloardo beating St. Thomas
· Yahoo Sports
The eighth-longest game in Division I baseball history ended in controversy.
In the bottom of the 21st inning, Northern Colorado earned an 8-7 walk-off win over St. Thomas (Minnesota) on a balk called with the bases loaded and two outs on Saturday, April 18, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Northern Colorado and St. Thomas began the first game of The Summit League series at noon local time on Friday, April 17. However, the game was suspended after 10 innings due to daylight and resumed on Saturday at noon MT.
Home plate umpire Lance Vaughn called a balk on pitcher Nolan Kemp with the bases loaded and two outs, allowing Ethan Mooser to score from third base for the winning run.
CONTROVERSIAL WALK OFF BALK ENDS A GAME IN THE 21ST INNING 😲😲
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) April 18, 2026
Tied for the 8th longest game in DI Baseball history pic.twitter.com/nMD5doAhqp
The 21-inning contest was tied for the eighth-longest game in DI Baseball history. The victory helped the Bears improve to 8-29, while the Tommies fell to 6-24.
The two teams combined to use nine pitchers, with a combined 33 strikeouts and 27 walks, resulting in 712 pitches across the 21 innings.
The Tommies tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the ninth inning when Joe Roder drove in Owen Bond on a sacrifice fly. Neither team scored again until Roder drove in a pair on an RBI double in the 19th inning.
However, a Jake Sanchez RBI single to center plated Jake Bullard to equalize the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the inning.
Zeke Minic walked to load the bases to bring Brien Kenny to the plate to set up the walk-off balk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northern Colorado beats St. Thomas in 21 innings on controversial walk-off balk