VANCOUVER – Highlighted by a complete game from
Danny Britton-Foster and a power display by the Firth brothers, the UBC Thunderbirds took care of another doubleheader against the Simpson Red Hawks 10-2 and 6-3 on Sunday to sweep the four-game series at Thunderbird Park.
Although his shutout bid was spoiled in the ninth by a flare to right field that barely eluded a diving
Jerod Bartnik, Britton-Foster turned in one of the best starts of his UBC career.
After two hits in the first, the only other Red Hawk to reach base through eight innings did so on an error. Britton-Foster finished with two runs, five hits and no walks allowed while going the distance.
“That sets up your whole day in a lot of different areas, but more important was to see him come out and just be so efficient, keep his pitch count down and really be in control,” said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. “There was something different about him today. That was the best I've seen him probably since his freshman year when we used to see that quite often out of him, so that's a good sign.”
The offence had a strong showing in game one as well, starting with a three-run first inning. After
Matt Spillman doubled and
Andrew Firth singled,
Nick Senior brought them both home with a triple. Bartnik then cashed him in on a sac fly.
The 'Birds tacked on two in the fifth and one in the sixth to give Britton-Foster plenty of room to work, and they put any doubts about the game to rest with a four-run eighth inning. Firth, Senior and Carruthers all had RBI singles to top things off offensively for the home side.
Offence was a lot harder to come by in game two for the 'Birds, as they followed up their 14-hit performance with just four in the nightcap. Bases on balls were the meal ticket for the 'Birds though, with 11 walks and one hit batter providing the bulk of their production.
Freshman pitcher
Alex Graham got out of a couple jams to give the 'Birds three scoreless innings, but two straight hit batters and a walk came back to haunt
Nathan Kirby, who took over in the fourth.
Joshua Corson ripped a single up the middle to make it a 2-0 game, but Kirby got out of the inning with no further damage and then turned in a scoreless fifth, setting the table for Andrew and
Cam Firth to give UBC the lead.
After
Ryan Taylor led off the fifth with a walk,
Cam Firth crushed a double off the left field wall to score him and get the home dugout buzzing.
Kevin Biro and
Matt Spillman drew walks to load the bases for
Andrew Firth, who promptly unloaded them with a three-run double to the left field gap.
Connor Smith gave up just one run over the final four innings for UBC, and the 'Birds tacked on a run in the sixth and the seventh to make it a 6-3 final.
“It was a very complete first game,” said
Terry McKaig. “Got a bunch of hits put together and got some big hits which is what we're looking for. Game two, you've got to have some depth because we had some young guys pitching who aren't going to be out there for too long, and offensively we pecked away and got our one big inning. But a lot better day today overall.”
The T-Birds got good offensive performances from several players in the series, but leadoff man
Matt Spillman and three-hole hitter
Andrew Firth led the charge.
Spillman went 6-12 with six walks in the series, while Firth was 7-17 with seven RBI.
The T-Birds are now 17-6 overall and 10-2 in the Cascade Conference. Simpson falls to 10-17 and 1-10.
Next up for UBC is a trip to the College of Idaho for a four-game set beginning March 23. They will be back home the following weekend for a huge four-game series against Lewis-Clark State.
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