RIVERSIDE, CA - Bryan Nicholson tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh inning before clinching a 6-5 victory with an RBI single in the top of the ninth for the no. 3 seeded Concordia (Calif.) Eagles who defeated the no. 2 UBC Thunderbirds at the 2011 NAIA National Championship Opening Round - Riverside Bracket.
With the loss, the T-Birds drop to the lower-half of the draw and must go undefeated the rest of the way in the five-team, double-elimination tournament to earn a spot at the 2011 AVISTA-NAIA Worlds Series in Lewiston, ID. Up next for UBC is a date with St. Thomas (Florida) at 9:00 a.m. on Friday in Riverside. St. Thomas lost 3-1 to Cal State San Marcos in the first game of this opening round bracket.
Nicholson's third hit of the day proved to be the difference in a close back-and-forth battle that saw the Eagles erase a 5-3 deficit over the final four innings. Kyle Konicek notched his third hit of the day to lead-off the ninth, signalling the end of UBC starter
Eric Brown's afternoon.
Andrew Ledger came on in relief, striking out the first batter he faced but Nicholson won the lefty-lefty match-up with a single into shallow right field to plate the game's winning run.
In the bottom of the ninth, the T-Birds couldn't muster anything against Concordia's Sam Lindsey who pitched a gem coming on in relief. He went six and two-third innings with just one hit and one earned run to go with eight strikeouts.
Lindsey's performance was the exact opposite from that of Eagles starter Dean Persinger who struggled and saw an early Concordia lead evaporate before his day was done.
The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off a pair of sacrifice flies but the 'Birds responded right away with a run in the bottom half of the inning.
Andrew Madsen laced an RBI single up the middle to plate lead-off man
Adam Quan, who had reached base with one of his three walks on the afternoon, but UBC could do no more damage despite loading the bases with just one out.
Concordia got back on it in the second inning with Konicek knocking in his second RBI of the game with a two-out double.
Matt Spillman picked up a one-out single to get UBC going in the bottom of the second and Quan reached with his second drawn walk of the game. Carruthers reached on an error by the Eagles shortstop to load the bases before Madsen drew another walk to pull UBC within one.
Brown settled down in the third and had his first clean inning of the game before his teammates made a push in the bottom of the frame. He ended up working eight innings, allowing 11 hits, six runs (five earned) while striking out four and walking three.
Bob Foerster was hit by Persinger in UBC's first at-bat of the third and scored when
Andrew Firth hit a stand-up triple to deep left-centre. A sacrifice fly by Spillman brought in Firth to give UBC a 4-3 lead. Wong singled to keep the rally going which ended Persinger's day. The Concordia starter threw 85 pitches in two and a third innings, allowing six hits and four runs, three earned, while walking three. Lindsay walked Quan but got out a tight spot by inducing a double-play to keep the score 4-3 for UBC.
In the bottom of the fifth the 'Birds added one run to their lead, capitalizing on a rare mistake from Lindsey. With two outs, Lindsey hit Quan with pitch. The freshman lead-off for UBC then scored from first on a Briscoe double to the gap in right-centre to make it 5-3.
The two run lead was short-lived. In the top of the sixth, a bloop single down the right field line by Edgar Guillen counted a run for the Eagles.
Nicholson then tied the game in the seventh, hitting a long ball over the right field wall.
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