VANCOUVER - After suffering through one of their toughest games of the season to start Saturday off with a 3-0 loss, the UBC Thunderbirds bounced back in game two behind a strong outing from
Jeremy Newton on their way to a 9-0 win to split the doubleheader with the College of Idaho Coyotes.
Early walks and errors ended up being the difference between the teams in game one. Seth Champlin walked to start the game and stole second before coming around to score on a UBC error, and in the second inning the Coyotes added two more on another error and a bases loaded walk to make it 3-0.
UBC starter
Alex Graham managed to last five innings with no further damage given up, but his four walks and three hit batters limited his effectiveness. The 'Birds were unable to dig out of that early hole against Idaho starter Ryan Eddy, who allowed just five hits while striking out seven in eight innings of shutout ball.
"That was one of our poorest games of the year," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. "Their guy threw quite well, especially in the first four or five innings. I thought he got a little tired after that and started elevating the ball, but we couldn't take advantage with a disciplined approach."
Connor Smith pitched the final four innings for UBC, holding the Coyotes scoreless on three hits.
Parker Vernon worked the ninth to pick up the save for Idaho, but he also got the start in game two, and the 'Birds seemed to have him figured out by then.
Mike Hole got UBC started early with an RBI double in the first, and the offense was locked in the rest of the way, putting up seven runs in the fourth and racking up 14 hits on their way to the easy win.
But before they grabbed the lead,
James Stewart made one of the key plays of the day for UBC defensively. Game two was looking eerily familiar to game one after starting pitcher
Jeremy Newton began by issuing a leadoff walk to Champlin, but this time his aggressiveness on the basepaths backfired when two-spot hitter Nick Muncy flared one out to centre field.
Champlin was already well on his way to third base when Stewart came up with a great diving catch on the shallow fly ball, giving the 'Birds plenty of time to double him off at first.
"We started with another walk and you could tell everyone on the bench was just like here we go again," McKaig said. "But making that diving play to double off the guy really allowed Jeremy to settle into a nice little sequence there which is what we needed."
Newton allowed only one hit over seven innings of work, walking three and striking out three to earn the win.
Tavis Bruce worked two perfect innings in relief.
The offence was spread around the lineup, with eight different players recording an RBI.
Greg Densem had three hits, a walk and an RBI. Hole went 2-2 with two doubles. Fruson,
Tyson Popoff,
Tyler Enns and
Kevin Biro all added two hits as well.
Andrew Firth, who had three of UBC's six hits in game one, added a sac fly.
Muncy got the lone hit for Idaho in the fourth inning.
The T-Birds are 13-9 overall and tied with the Coyotes at 6-3 in conference play. Idaho is 16-10 overall. The teams will look to separate themselves in the standings with another doubleheader on Sunday to wrap up the series, but McKaig says his team needs to be more worried about starting games the right way than they are about the standings right now.
"We have to focus on that start of game one. We've been starting so poorly in games that we aren't thinking about the sweep. It's about focusing on those first few innings and getting out of the chute well, and let the day take care of itself once we're turned on and ready to go. That will be the key tomorrow because they are going to be fired up and not happy about their game two just like we were about game one."
The T-Birds and Coyotes begin game three of their series at 11 a.m. on Sunday at Thunderbird Park, followed by game four after a short break.
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