VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds' bats, gloves and arms were all in fine form this weekend against the Corban College Warriors, as the T-Birds swept another doubleheader on Saturday at Thunderbird Park by scores of 8-1 and 3-1.
After exploding for 27 runs in Friday's doubleheader, pitching took centre stage for UBC on Saturday.
Brandon Kaye improved to 4-0 on the year after a stellar outing in game one. He was flirting with a shutout until Jonathan Ramirez tripled down the right-field line in the eighth inning. He was then cashed in on Steven Candelaria's sac fly to get the Warriors on the board. Kaye allowed one run on just two hits over eight innings of work. He also struck out three and had no walks.
"He had a really good tempo about him today," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. "He got some outs early in counts and had a really reasonable pitch count after eight innings. That was probably his best game of the year. He was efficient and threw a lot of quality strikes, and his fastball had a lot of life down in the zone."
Offensively, the first inning turned out to be all UBC needed in game one.
Keaton Briscoe and
Sammie Starr both reached base to start the inning, and they were brought home by a
Blake Carruthers single and a
Sean Pisarski double respectively.
Bob Foerster also picked up an RBI on a sac fly to spot UBC a 3-0 lead right off the bat.
Nic Lendvoy continued his strong weekend at the plate with a triple and two RBIs in game one. Carruthers added another RBI in the sixth, and
Greg Densem and
Mike Elias each chipped in an RBI as well.
Trevor Winsor took the loss for the Warriors, allowing all eight runs, six of which were earned, over seven innings of work.
The T-Birds got off to another early start in game two, as they scored all three of their runs in the first two innings. After Briscoe singled and then stole second to lead off the game, Starr brought him home with a single up the middle. He eventually came around to score on a
Mitch Grossell groundout. Foerster's RBI single in the second capped off the scoring for UBC, as he knocked in the T-Birds' 38th run of the four-game series.
"That offence was a good sign, especially here at home," said McKaig. "Sometimes this field doesn't play as the most offensive ball park but in all four games I thought we came out with really good preperation and mentality and we took good swings all weekend."
Mark Hardy got the win in game two after throwing five scoreless innings of four-hit ball.
Shawn Hetherington gave up the lone Warriors run in the sixth, and
Taylor King struck out the side in the seventh to earn the save.
Nate Hiebert gave up three runs over five innings in a losing effort for the Warriors. Ramirez picked up the RBI for Corban in game two on an infield single.
UBC moves to 25-6 on the year, and they remain in first place in the NAIA West standings. Corban falls to 8-24.
After a non-conference game at Seattle University on April 6, the T-Birds will return home for a four-game series against Concordia, with doubleheaders on April 10 and 11. The Warriors' next action is also on April 6, when they will host a doubleheader against Concordia.
