VANCOUVER - The Simpson University Red Hawks picked up their first conference win of the season 9-7 over UBC in game one of their doubleheader on Saturday, but the 'Birds responded with a 10-4 win in the nightcap to earn the split in Redding, California.
The Red Hawks came into the game with a 0-12 record in conference play, but they jumped out in front of game one with a two-run fourth. UBC struck back with a run in the fifth, taking advantage of a Simpson error before
Jerod Bartnik's RBI double made it a 2-1 game, but the Hawks broke things open in the sixth.
Back to back doubles got the Simpson rally going, and UBC added fuel to the fire with an infield error that set up a two on, one out situation after T-Birds starter
Jeremy Newton should have had the second out of the inning. Instead, he gave up an RBI single to the next batter he faced, making it a 4-1 Simpson lead as
Connor Smith took the mound in relief.
Smith allowed an RBI single and a bases loaded walk to make it a 6-1 game before the inning was over. Meanwhile, the Thunderbird offence was struggling badly against a team that brought a 9.81 ERA into the game. UBC finally got to the Simpson pitching staff in the eighth, loading the bases for leadoff man
Tyson Popoff, who scored two runs with a double. The bases were loaded up again for top hitter
Andrew Firth, who came through with a two-run single, but Simpson also recorded the third out of the inning on the play, gunning
Greg Densem down as he tried to go from first to third.
That kept the Red Hawks up 6-5, and they added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to hold on for the 7-5 win. It was the first conference win of the season for Simpson, and their highest run total in the past 13 games.
But after collecting just eight hits against the conference's worst pitching team in game one, UBC made up for it with a 10-run, 17-hit performance in the nightcap to split the doubleheader.
Popoff led the game off with his first home run of the season, and
James Stewart launched a three-run bomb in the second to put UBC up 4-0 early.
UBC starter Brian Pawlina gave up two runs in the second, but settled down after that to earn the win with seven innings of seven hit, three run ball.
The 'Birds added to the lead in the fourth with RBI singles from Popoff and Bartnik, and a sac fly from Firth to make it a 7-0 game. They tacked on another three in the sixth and Simpson scored one in the ninth to make it a 10-4 final.
Popoff was the star of the day offensively for UBC. He went 5-6 in game two to give him seven hits and four RBI on the day.
Jerod Bartnik had four hits and two RBIs. Firth had two hits and four RBI.
The T-Birds are now 16-10 overall and 10-4 in conference play, while Simpson moves to 2-25 and 1-12. The teams play another doubleheader on Sunday to wrap up the series, with the first pitch of game one scheduled for 11 a.m.
-30-
