VANCOUVER -
Austin Fruson came up clutch with three hits on Saturday, two of which held up as game-winners to help the UBC Thunderbirds sweep a doubleheader against the Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls by scores of 5-3 and 3-1 at Thunderbird Park.
Game one was amrred by sloppy defence on both sides, as the teams combined for seven errors and just four of the eight total runs in the game were earned.
The Owls struck first in the third inning, when two singles and an error gave them the bases loaded with none out.
Danny Britton-Foster got Ryan Hayden to ground into a double play but a run also scored to put the visitors up 1-0.
The 'Birds jumped out in front in the bottom half though, as
Blake Carruthers smacked a single to right in his first game back from injury, and then scored on a triple by
Nick Senior.
Andrew Firth's groundout brought Senior home to make it 2-1 UBC.
It stayed that way until the sixth, when the lead changed twice more as each team scored two runs. The Owls took advantage of another infield error to bring home a pair of runs on groundouts and take a 3-2 lead, but Fruson, who was off to a slow start to the season offensively, came up with a loud reply in the home half of the inning.
He mashed a two-run home run over the left field fence to put UBC up 4-3. They added an insurance run in the seventh on a
Mike Hole RBI, and
Conor Lillis-White shut the door for a scoreless two-inning save.
In game two, with the teams locked in a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning, Fruson got the job done again with an RBI single up the gut to cash in
Ryan Taylor from third base. The 'Birds added another run in the inning on a Senior sac fly, and held on for the 3-1 victory.
"He's really picked it up the last few weeks," head coach
Terry McKaig said of Fruson. "He did that last year too, kind of struggled during the year but in the playoffs he was one of our biggest contributors and we tell our kids all the time that you're really judged as a player by what you do at the end of the year when everything is on the line, and if Austin os one of those guys at the end of the year we'll take it."
Freshman
Alex Graham got the start in game two and went six strong, allowing just one run on a passed ball when he got his signals crossed with catcher
Cam Firth with a runner on third.
"As a freshman you really can't ask for much more out of Alex," said McKaig. "He really kept us in the ball game and it was too bad he gave up the one run getting the signals crossed there, but that was all he gave up so a really good start for him."
Nathan Kirby worked the final three innings, allowing no hits and just one walk to pick up the win for UBC.
"Both relievers did a really nice job today and they are going to be critical at the end of the year," McKaig said. "Our starters can go seven or eight innings for us but we need someone to shut the door and that was nice to get it done in two cloes games today."
The T-Birds improve to 16-10 in the conference and 23-15 overall. The Owls fall to 9-17 in the conference but are still in contention for a spot in the Regional tournament.
The teams finish their series on Sunday with another doubleheader, this time starting at 11 a.m. at Thunderbird Park.
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