VANCOUVER - It wasn't the best baseball the UBC Thunderbirds have played this year, but a late rally in game two of their doubleheader at Patten earned them a split, losing game one 4-1 to the Lions before rebounding for a 10-7 win and securing the number two-seed for the NAIA West Regional Tournament in the process.
Danny Britton-Foster had a quality outing in game one, allowing just one run on five hits over six innings of work, but the T-Birds couldn't muster any offence to support him.
Andrew Firth hit a solo homer in the seventh to tie the game up, but the 'Birds were held to just three hits in the ball game, and the Lions came right back with three runs in the bottom of the inning off
Conor Lillis-White to pick up the win.
But Firth was just getting warmed up as it turned out, and he really got off the leash in game two, terrorizing the Lions to the tune of a 5-5 day at the dish with another homer and four RBI.
Firth helped the 'Birds get out to a 7-2 lead with
David Otterman on the mound, but Otterman struggled with his command and was out after 4.2 innings, giving way to long reliever
Nathan Kirby.
Kirby was coming off a hot weekend at home against Oregon Tech, but faced some early adversity against the Lions. After getting out of the fifth inning he ran into big trouble in the sixth, surrendering five runs to tie the game back up at seven.
He managed to settle down though, and finished the game off with no further damage, allowing the 'Birds to rally in the late innings. They went ahead 8-7 in the eighth and tacked on two more in the ninth for the win.
Along with Firth,
Nick Senior also produced a big game offensively, going 3-5 with a double and an RBI.
Blake Carruthers,
Sebastian Wong,
Ryan Taylor and
Cam Firth all had an RBI each.
The T-Birds are now 17-11 on the year, guaranteeing them a third place finish in the Cascade Conference Standings. With first place finishers LC State getting an automatic bid to the NAIA World Series, that leaves the T-Birds with the second seed for the NAIA West Regionals, with the College of Idaho taking first seed.
"It was nice locking up the #2 seed with the split today," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. "Given what we have gone through this year with injuries, that is an accomplishment in itself. We will have to play better baseball next week than we did today and we will try and finish off the weekend playing better baseball tomorrow."
The regional tournament is a five-team double elimination affair with a bid to the World Series going to the winner. It will be hosted by the Concordia Cavaliers in Portland, Oregon from May 2-4.
The T-Birds and Lions finish up the regular season with another doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m.
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