VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds won their conference opener 8-5 over the Menlo College Oaks, but they couldn't take advantage of a solid start from
Alex Graham in game two of their doubleheader, losing 3-0 to settle for a split on Friday in Atherton, California.
Jerod Bartnik's RBI double in the second inning produced the only run for either side through the first four innings of game one, with
Matt Thornton keeping the Oaks scoreless on the mound for the 'Birds. But the bats heated up quickly in the fifth, beginning with
Austin Fruson and
Tyson Popoff's back to back singles.
Sebastian Wong laid down a bunt to bring Fruson home, and then
Greg Densem added another single to drive in Popoff for a 3-0 UBC lead.
But the lead was erased in the bottom half of the inning. James Threw led off with a single for Menlo, and quickly got to third on a wild pitch and an error before Mickey Phelps scored him with a sac fly. Thornton looked like he would get out of the inning with no further damage though, striking out the next batter and then inducing a ground ball to short for what would have been the third out, but an error by Popoff allowed the inning to continue. Thornton walked the next three batters to bring in another run before he was replaced on the mound by
Sean Callegari. He gave up a single to score the tying run at the time before getting the 'Birds out of the inning.
UBC responded immediately with their own big offensive inning.
Sebastian Wong ripped a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to chase Menlo starter Sean Sweeney from the game, but the first batter reliever Kaimi Haina faced was Densem, who doubled home two more runs to make it 7-3 T-Birds.
Threw again led off the bottom half for Menlo, and again he started a scoring rally with a leadoff single. Daniel Comstock and Corey Metoyer both hit RBI singles in the inning to cut UBC's lead to two. But after the 'Birds tacked on another run on Jeremy Krall's RBI single in the top of the eighth, Miles Verwheel shut the door on Menlo in the last two innings to preserve the win.
Game two was scoreless until the eighth inning, with Graham throwing five innings of shutout ball to start things off for UBC. He struck out four batters, allowing four hits and two walks before giving way to
Alex Webb in the sixth. Webb continued the scoreless effort for another two innings before the Oaks got to him in the eighth, when a leadoff walk and then an error set them up with two men on and none out.
The next three batters went double-single-single to cash in three runs, which was more than enough to sink the 'Birds. They totalled just four hits in game two after racking up 13 in game one. Densem and Wong led UBC offensively with three hits and three RBIs each on the day. Bartnik, Popoff and
Turner Spears all had two hits.
Callegari gets the win in game one, while Webb takes the loss for the nightcap. UBC is now 1-1 in Cascade Conference play and 7-7 overall this season. They have another doubleheader at Menlo on Saturday before returning to Vancouver for a two-week homestand. UBC's home opener is Friday, March 15 at 2 p.m. against Concordia.
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