Rutschman gets bases-loaded BB -- just like BB
Adley Rutschman got the Barry Bonds treatment.
This year's No. 1 Draft prospect was intentionally walked Friday night … with the bases loaded.
Rutschman came up in the bottom of the seventh inning of Oregon State's NCAA Tournament game against Cincinnati, with the bases loaded, no outs and Cincinnati holding a 5-2 lead.
And then, before the best No. 1 Draft prospect since Bryce Harper had a chance to swing his team back into the game, it was 5-3. Cincinnati intentionally walked Rutschman to force in a run -- the same way Bonds was famously walked with the bases loaded by the D-backs on May 28, 1998, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Arizona ahead, 8-6.
Like Bonds, Rutschman looked incredulous when he realized he was being walked, almost exactly 21 years later.
Walking Bonds paid off for the D-backs and manager Buck Showalter -- Gregg Olson got Brent Mayne, the next hitter, to line out to right field to end the game. It didn't exactly pay off for Cincinnati -- Oregon State ended up scoring three more times in the inning to take a 6-5 lead. But Cincinnati rallied for runs in the eighth and ninth to win the game.
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Rutschman, a 21-year-old switch-hitting catcher, is hitting .418/.580/.764 with 17 home runs and 75 walks (24 intentional) in 56 games this season.