CALDWELL, ID -
Sheldon McDonald struck out 11 men in seven strong innings in the opener, while a
Kevin Nickel two-run homer in the first inning of the nightcap provided the big blow, as tenth-ranked British Columbia swept a doubleheader from The College of Idaho, 11-4 and 4-0 at Wolfe Field.
"It was a pretty convincing performance today. We had a pair of dominant starts from Sheldon and Eric [Brown). We're happy to see us putting that together with some good defence and timely hitting against our conference rival. It was a good start to the conference season and we'll look to pick it up tomorrow," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig.
A five-run two-out fourth-inning outburst for the T-Birds (6-5, 2-0 NAIA West) in the opener was the difference, as McDonald retired the first 17 Coyotes he faced.
The fourth-year hurler from Spruce Grove, Alb., was in the zone all afternoon for UBC and allowed just one run and three hits without conceding a wake in the start. Dan Britton-Foster and
Luke Webster combined to close out the victory.
At the plate, UBC piled up 11 runs on 15 hits.
Andrew Firth had a big game in his return from injury with four hits and three RBI and a quartet of other T-Birds had a pair of hits.
Sean Pisarski was one of those UBC players and he also had a pair of RBI in the game.
In the nightcap, Brown and
Shawn Hetherington combined on a five-hit shutout, though the Yotes brought the tying run to the plate in the final frame, but Jordan Lanman grounded into a double play to end the contest.
Brown was nearly as good as McDonald, going six innings of three-hit baseball to go along with eight strikeouts and three walks.
Nickel's home run provided UBC with all the run support they needed on the day but the T-Birds added runs in the second and sixth innings for good measure.
The two teams will play a twinbill tomorrow at 11 a.m.
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