REDLANDS, CA - The no. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds broke out of a three game losing slump in a big way, downing the University of Redlands 11-2 Tuesday afternoon.
UBC (2-3) was playing their fifth game in seven days but came out of a rare day off to put together a solid performance at the plate and on the mound.
"Obviously it's not a stretch to say that it was our best performance of the year," said UBC bench boss
Terry McKaig."It started with scoring early which makes it a lot easier to pitch and play defence when you have a nice lead."
After both teams put up a pair of runs in the first, it was a seven run output from the T-Birds in the top of the third that blew the game wide open.
Bob Foerster's three-run home with no outs gave UBC's it third hit and fourth run of the inning before
Sebastian Wong knocked in a pair with two outs. Wong then scored on
Kevin Nickel's second double of the inning as sent all nine batters to the plate.
Foerster finished the game with a team-leading five RBI on a 2-for-5 afternoon.
Keaton Briscoe and Wong each added two RBI with Nickel driving in the T-Birds other RBI.
After giving up a pair of runs, only one earned, in the first, UBC starter
Eric Brown settled down nicely. He went five innings with just three hits surrendered to go with two strikeouts and no walks.
Sheldon McDonald was dominant in three innings of work, allowing only two hits while striking out six and
Shawn Hetherington gave up one hit and struck out one working the ninth.
"It was a nice performance by Eric and Sheldon but we expect that from two of our more senior pitchers," said McKaig. "We're getting into a bit of a tough stretch here on this trip and we are going to be tested in these upcoming games."
The game against Redlands kicked off a five-day stretch that sees UBC play once a day. Next up for UBC is Westmont College on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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