VANCOUVER – Both offences struggled after the first inning, but the UBC Thunderbirds did just enough damage early on to hold on for a 3-1 win over the Menlo Oaks on Sunday to take the series three games to one at Thunderbird Park.
After a Colin Forgey double got Menlo on the board in the first inning, the 'Birds looked to be headed for an early hole as their first two batters were put out by Oaks starter Tristan Heckerl in the bottom of the frame.
But three-spot hitter
Nick Senior, who was already working on a monster series at the dish, got the 'Birds going with what head coach
Terry McKaig called “one of the best at bats I've ever seen at UBC,” without even putting the ball in play.
Senior patiently worked the count and fouled off pitch after pitch until finally drawing a two-out walk on Heckerl's 15
th offering of the at bat. Senior took third on a balk, and then
Blake Carruthers also showed great plate discipline to earn a walk of his own before stealing second.
That set up rookie Jarod Bartnik with a chance to put his team on top early, and he didn't disappoint, ripping a single into right field to cash in both runners.
“To score two runs in the first after we'd given up one was big, but we made Heckerl throw 43 pitches which is really critical,” said McKaig, who noted that Heckerl's stuff was as good as anyone the 'Birds have faced so far.
The high pitch count caught up with Heckerl in the fourth inning, when he surrendered a third run on a
Brody Hawkins single and was chased from the game.
The T-Birds didn't make much noise after that though, settling for just two hits and no runs the rest of the way.
“Now what we didn't do is take advantage of (chasing Heckerl early) and get to their bullpen,” said McKaig. “We had bunted guys into position but just couldn't get a good at bat off a reliever, so there's still work to be done offensively, but we pitched it well and made some big defensive plays when we had to.”
One of those plays came in the sixth inning, after C.J. Dailey drew a leadoff walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Forgey, who had been the Oaks' top hitter all weekend.
Forgey lined a ball towards the hole between short stop and third base, but
Andrew Firth laid out to snag the grounder and still had time to get to his feet and start the double play.
“That's his thing. He's a gold glover from last year and one of the best defensive third basemen I've ever seen at this level so we've come to expect that from him, but it was a great diving play and
Ryan Taylor actually made a great turn on that play too,” McKaig said.
The T-Birds got a great outing from rookie starter
Alex Graham, who went five strong innings of three-hit ball. Relievers
Connor Smith,
Luke Webster and
Conor Lillis-White combined to no-hit the Oaks over the final four innings of the game.
Lillis-White earned his second save in as many days, and Graham picked up the W. Heckerl took the loss for Menlo.
UBC improves to 10-5 overall and 3-1 in the conference. The Oaks are 5-15 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
Next up for the T-Birds is a trip south to Corban College for a four-game set. Their next home action is slated for March 17, when they kick off a series with Simpson University at Nat Bailey Stadium.
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