VANCOUVER - Nothing was settled between the UBC Thunderbirds and College of Idaho Coyotes this weekend as the two sides won two games each after splitting another doubleheader on Sunday. The T-Birds were 9-4 winners in game one, and the Coyotes took game two 7-1 at Thunderbird Park.
After Jye Lanphere's RBI single in the top of the seventh cut UBC's lead to 3-2, the T-Birds blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the inning.
Andrew Firth,
Keaton Briscoe and
Sammie Starr all singled to start the inning, and the T-Birds sent nine men to the plate, with five different players picking up one RBI each. Firth added a solo home run to left field in the eighth, and the Coyotes tacked on two runs in the ninth to make it a 9-4 final.
All but one of the T-Birds' starters had at least one hit in game one.
Nic Lendvoy went 3-for-4 and added another hit in game two, tying him with Firth at four hits for the day. Firth,
Alex White and
Matt Cameron all had two RBIs for UBC on the day.
"It was one of our better games of the year in all three of the areas we look at," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. "We pitched really well, swung the bats and played good defence."
On the mound,
Brandon Kaye improved to 3-0 on the year with a strong seven-inning performance. He gave up just two runs on six hits and no walks, and had five strikeouts.
"He came out and set the tone," said McKaig. "His slider was a good pitch for him today and he was locating his fastball so he threw really well."
The T-Birds had a decent showing at the plate in game two as well, but ended up with almost nothing to show for it. They were outhit just 8-7 by the Coyotes, but left 13 runners on base. They broke up Coyotes starter Bobby Wassman's shutout bid in their last at-bats of the seven inning affair with an RBI single by White. Wassman picked up the win with 6.2 innings pitched and just one unearned run on seven hits.
"Obviously scoring one run isn't very good but in the early innings we had base runners on, and we actually hit a lot of balls hard but they were right at guys," said McKaig. "I wish we could have been better and gotten the big hit, but we were hitting balls hard and that's what we are looking for."
Sheldon McDonald took the loss for UBC, although he had a good outing going until he ran into some long-ball trouble in the late innings. Jared Arehart took him deep to left with a two-run shot in the top of the fifth, and Lanphere also cleared the left field fence with a solo homer in the sixth, putting the Coyotes up 3-0 at the time and chasing McDonald from the game. It was Lanphere's fourth hit and fourth RBI of the day. Izaac Garsez also had four RBIs for the Coyotes.
The T-Birds are now 16-3 on the year, and will look to improve on that as they head out on the road next weekend to play the Concordia Cavaliers. UBC's next home action is on April 2, when they begin a four-game series against Corban College at Thunderbird Park. Meanwhile, the Coyotes move to 15-7 and will be at home against Bethany next week.
