VANCOUVER - Nine hits and two errors produced nine fifth inning runs for the UBC Thunderbirds, as they opened up a huge lead and finished the Simpson Red Hawks off in seven innings with a 14-2 mercy rule victory in their first NAIA West Grouping Tournament game on Thursday at Nat Bailey Stadium.
It was almost a carbon copy of the earlier game between the College of Idaho and Oregon Tech, which also saw the underdog Oregon side hang in with Idaho in a 2-2 game until the Coyotes broke it open with a huge bottom of the fifth. A leadoff home run from Nick Spiess and a throwing error by UBC catcher Bob Foerster spotted Simpson an early 2-0 lead. But the T-Birds scratched out a run in each of their first two turns at bat to pull even, and then added two more in the fourth before exploding for nine runs in the fifth.
After Sean Pisarski, Sammie Starr and Nic Lendvoy all singled to begin the home half of the fifth, Nick Senior cleared the bags with a triple to the right field wall. Three more batters reached base before Simpson recoreded the first out of the frame, and 13 batters came to the plate before it was all said and done.
"Our offence had been sputtering along for a while but we really came out with some good swings and a lot of line drives and barrels, which you are going to have to do at Nat Bailey," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig. "You can't count on the power as much and you're not going to get any cheap home runs, but we had some really good approaches scoring guys from third with sac flys and things like that which was a good sign."
The T-Birds out-hit the Red Hawks 17-3 for the day, and seven different T-Birds had multiple hits in the game. Foerster and Senior led the offence with three RBIs each.
Sheldon McDonald settled down on the mound for UBC after giving up the early homer, as he didn't allow a hit after the first inning. He went six innings of two hit ball, allowing just one earned run while striking out five.
"Not a great start but he definitely settled down and found his groove, and that's the outing we needed from him," McKaig said. "These guys are on four days of rest from the College of Idaho series and all year they are used to getting a full week, so that may have had something to do with the way he started."
Shane Hillier was hit with the loss for Simpson, giving up nine earned runs on 14 hits over 4.2 innings.
The T-Birds will now meet the College of Idaho at noon on Friday with a trip to the finals on the line. The loser of that game will play later on Friday to determine the second team to reach the finals in this double knockout tournament. The Red Hawks play the Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The winner plays the loser of UBC-Idaho on Friday evening, while the loser's season will be over.
