VANCOUVER - The Thunderbirds attempted two last-inning comebacks on Saturday and they were successful with one, losing game one of their doubleheader with Corban 4-3 before edging the Warriors 12-10 in extra innings in the nightcap down in Salem, Oregon.
Danny Britton-Foster took some early damage on a few tough breaks in game one. The Warriors took the lead on a first-inning sac fly, and a two-out error in the third inning led to another run to put him in a hole.
After the 'Birds cut the lead in half with a
Sebastian Wong RBI single in the top of the sixth, another error led to a two-run bottom of the inning for the Warriors. That ended Britton-Foster's night with a three-run deficit for his team to overcome, despite just one earned run, no walks and seven hits allowed in six innings
Jerod Bartnik's solo homer to lead off the seventh made it a 4-2 game, giving the 'Birds a shot to make a late charge.
After a scoreless eighth and two outs in the ninth inning, the rally started.
Ryan Taylor and
Matt Spillman drew back to back walks and advanced to second and third on a wild pitch.
The Warriors then paid back one of those unearned runs with an error on
Andrew Firth's grounder to third, allowing Taylor to score and cut the lead down to one, with the tying run in scoring position and top hitter
Nick Senior up. But closer Jacob Kopra got him to ground out to end the game to give Corban its first win of the series.
Although they managed to put together some offensive threats thanks to eight walks in the game, the 'Birds managed just three hits.
The bats woke up in a big way for game two though, with seven T-Birds recording multi-hit performances.
UBC went up early with three-spots in the first and second innings, highlighted by another Bartnik homer and a two-run double from Senior.
Alex Graham made it through the first two innings easily enough, but ran into trouble starting in the third, again sparked by an unearned run from one of UBC's three errors in the game.
The Warriors scored two in the third and one in the fourth to end Graham's day, and then one in the fifth off reliever
Markus Fergusson.
The 'Birds added a seventh run in the sixth, but the Warriors surged ahead in the bottom half of the inning with six runs of their own. Corban got three-run homers from Coby Sokol and Steven Blum to go up 10-7, putting UBC behind heading into the late stages once again.
This time they were up to the challenge though, with RBI singles from Firth and Senior in the seventh cutting the lead to one before manufacturing the tying run in the ninth. Bartnik led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a sac bunt from Wong before Taylor's RBI groundout sent the game to extras.
Bartnik played hero in the tenth with a two-run single to cash in Senior and
Matt Spillman. He finished the day with six RBI, five of those coming in game two. Senior had three hits and four RBI in game two.
On the mound in crunch time it was Conor Lilis-White once again coming through when his team needed it the most. All three other UBC pitchers in the game took significant damage, but Lilis-White held the tie in the bottom of the ninth and preserved the lead in the tenth to earn the win.
The T-Birds are now 6-2 in the Cascade Conference and 13-6 overall. They are at home next week for a four game series with Simpson University, beginning with a doubleheader on March 17 at 12 p.m.
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