VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds took the first two games of a four-game set against the Lewis Clark State Warriors on Saturday, finishing off Friday's postponed game one with a 3-1 win and taking game two 8-2 on the strength of good pitching and some mishandled bunts.
The 'Birds and Warriors squeezed in two and a half innings of game one on Friday before the rain delay, and it turned out to be all they needed, as Bob Foerster's two-run single in the first inning held up as the game-winning hit.
Foerster took advantage of walks to Keaton Briscoe and Andrew Firth with a line drive through the right side, and Brandon Kaye shut the Warriors out in the three innings he worked.
Sheldon McDonald took over on the mound on Saturday and was credited with the win, settling down after allowing a run in the fourth - his first inning of work - to hold the Warriors scoreless the rest of the way while striking out seven.
"Sheldon threw a really strong game," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig. "He settled down after allowing a run in his first inning, pitched himself out of a couple jams where they had runners on first and second with nobody out and otherwise shut them down."
Matt Spillman had the other RBI for UBC, knocking in Blake Carruthers after he singled and stole second.
Cody Fassold took the loss for the Warriors after allowing two runs in his two innings on Friday.
The T-Birds got another strong pitching performance in game two, with starter Eric Brown going eight innings while allowing two runs and seven hits, striking out six.
UBC also took advantage of three Lewis Clark errors, including two costly ones by Warriors pitcher Austin Pentecost in a four-run UBC seventh. His errors allowed Mike Elias and Kevin Nickel to reach on sac bunt attempts after Nick Senior led off with a double and Briscoe walked.
Those mistakes led to Senior and Elias scoring, and Briscoe then came home on a wild pitch. Carsen Nylund then went in to finish the game on the mound for the Warriors, but the T-Birds added one more run in the inning on a Greg Densem fielder's choice, and that was more than enough cushion as Andrew Ledger worked a scoreless ninth inning for UBC to seal the win.
"We executed really well and forced them into some defensive mistakes with some very well placed bunts," said McKaig. "Then from there we got clutch hitting and drove in the runners when we had the opportunity".
UBC first took the lead with a three-run fifth inning against Warriors starter Casey Edelbrock, who got the loss. After Densem led off with a walk, Senior came in to pinch-hit and delivered with an RBI triple. He was cashed in by an Elias single, and then Foerster drove Elias home with a single of his own.
"Two wins against that storied program is a good sign for us at this point in the season," McKaig said.
The T-Birds go to 12-5 on the year and will wrap up their series against the Warriors (11-5) with another doubleheader at Thunderbird Park on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m.
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