LOS ANGELES (WCIA) – Will Klein, a former Eastern Illinois University standout, has etched his name into baseball history in a way fans won’t soon forget.

Klein, who donned the Panthers’ uniform from 2018 to 2020, emerged as a pivotal player for the Dodgers in the gripping third game of the World Series.

In a clash that stretched an exhausting 18 innings, Klein took the mound for innings 15 through 18 for Los Angeles. His stellar performance featured five strikeouts with not a single run allowed. The dramatic conclusion came when Freddie Freeman smashed a walk-off home run, clinching the victory for the Dodgers.

The Kansas City Royals selected Klein in the fifth round of the 2020 draft, directly from his college career at EIU.

Reflecting on his remarkable outing, Klein confidently stated in the postgame press conference, “There was no way we were losing that game. I was determined to keep returning to the mound, doing everything in my power to maintain a clean scoreboard, ready to repeat the effort each time.”

Klein, a Bloomington, Indiana native, had thrown no more than 36 pitches in a game on the 2025 season prior to Tuesday. He threw 72 across his four innings of work. He was not on the Dodgers active roster for the postseason until the World Series.

EIU head baseball coach Jason Anderson coached Klein for three years in Charleston.

“He did awesome, and it was awesome to see,” Anderson told WCIA. “He’s very driven, very intelligent, I think he [scored a] 34 [on the] ACT. He has a lot of confidence and I’ve told a lot of people – It was almost like destiny of everything he has been through in his career. Starting off as a high school catcher, to be in that spot, not a lot of young people would be able to handle the pressure of that… That’s just his personality that really worked for him last night.”

The 6-5 win for LA, in a 6.5-hour marathon game, put it up 2-1 in the best of seven series.