VANCOUVER - In spite of less than ideal conditions, the no. 11 ranked UBC Thunderbirds continued their strong run of conference play with a pair of wins over the Corban University Warriors on Friday, picking up wins of 2-1 and 6-2.
The first of six scheduled games this weekend was delayed by more than three and half hours due to constant rain, pushing the start time from 12:00 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. It was a familiar refrain for the two schools, who played today's games in place of a pair that were originally scheduled during UBC's trip to Corban in March.
Corban, who were the home team on Friday, hung tough with the first-place T-Birds in the first tilt, surrendering just a pair of runs before their ninth inning rally was snuffed out by an excellent play from UBC centre fielder
Blake Carruthers.
The T-Birds scored once in the top of sixth and once in the eighth both thanks in large part to
Keaton Briscoe who led the T-Birds with two hits and both runs scored in the game.
The Warriors began their rally in the ninth with one out, manufacturing a single run off UBC reliever
Shawn Hetherington. With two outs, they got back-to-back singles from Nick Stiltner and Trevor Winsor. Nate Hiebert came to the plate and a line drive into shallow centre field looked like it had a chance to win the game for Corban, however, a completely outstretched Carruthers made a diving snag to end the contest.
UBC starter Dan Britton-Foster earned the win, going seven innings and allowed five hits and no runs while striking out six. Hetherington got the save, throwing the final two innings
T-Bird head coach
Terry McKaig quickly diagnosed why his first-place UBC squad, who came into the weekend with a 12-1 conference record, nearly lost the opener to a Warrior team that is winless so far in conference play.
"This has been our calling card and it's been going on for quite awhile. Our pitching has been good enough for us to win any ball game but our hitting has started to become a bit of a concern. You can talk about the layoff or the rain delays but those are just parts of baseball. We're struggling with our bats. Luckily we've been doing enough to win games while we work on it and try figure it out."
In the second game, UBC got another solid pitching performance out of
Eric Brown who went the complete seven innings in the 6-2 win. He allowed only three hits and struck out five. Both runs against were unearned, coming in the bottom of sixth after back-to-back errors from UBC outfielders who lost the ball in the lights at T-Bird Park.
Brown is now 6-0 on the season with a 1.52 ERA and an opponent bating average of .181. Three of those wins have come as complete games.
"Brown was good, especially early on. His control wasn't as sharp late but those were really tough conditions out there tonight by the end of the second game," said McKaig. "Brown's probably been our most consistent guy and he has stepped us his game. He wants to be leaned on heavily in the playoffs and pitch the big games. He's shown he is up to that task."
Briscoe continued to be UBC's most consistent threat at the plate with a pair of hits a pair of hits, runs, and RBIs in the win. The T-Birds, however, only tallied five hits in the win and took advantage of three Corban errors and three wild pitches to jump out to an early lead.
They scored three in the first and one in the second off Warrior starter Quinn Macnab who struggled with his control early on before settling down later in the game. That turned out to be all the offence UBC needed but they added a pair in the fifth for good measure.
Steven Blum knocked in both Corban runs in the bottom of the sixth.
The two schools go at it again on Saturday, with a doubleheader scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start at Thunderbird Park. They'll follow a similar schedule on Sunday, with first pitch set for 11:00 a.m.
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