The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER - Alex Graham went the distance to lead the UBC Thunderbirds to a 5-1 win in their series opener with the Corban University Warriors on Saturday, but Jacob Kopra won a pitchers' duel 2-1 in game two to earn a split for the visitors at Thunderbird Park.

GAME 1 BOX SCORE / GAME 2 BOX SCORE


Andrew Firth's RBI double in the first inning nearly held up as a game-winner behind Graham's best outing of the season. The second-year righty brought a team-leading 1.89 ERA into Saturday's contest, but  was still in search of his first win. High pitch counts and UBC's deep reservoir of effective pitchers have meant relatively short outings for him, with six innings being his longest conference outing of the year until Saturday.

"That was by far Alex's best game of the year," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig.

Graham struck out five batters and walked just one, allowing four hits and keeping the Warriors scoreless until an RBI groundout from Peter Martin in the ninth inning.

And even though he didn't need it, the 'Birds gave Graham some run support against Corban's tough lefty, Jamie McCaffrey. Firth added another RBI on a sac fly, as did Aaron Horanski, and Mike Hole's two-run double in the seventh capped off UBC's scoring.

The 'Birds finished with 10 hits, led by Tyson Popoff and Kevin Biro with two each. Popoff also had a walk and scored two runs.

"I thought game one was one of our most complete efforts of the whole year," McKaid said. "We had a good offensive approach against their lefty who has some good numbers. Alex was outstanding, and we made good defensive plays."

In game two, both starters came out dealing. Sean Callegari allowed two runs, eight hits and no walks over seven and a third innings for the 'Birds, and Kopra went the full nine, allowing no earned runs with three hits, two walks and two strikeouts. 

"Kopra is a pretty good pitcher. To our right handed hitters he wouldn't come off the inside part of the plate," said McKaig. "He has that kind of funk where he falls off to the third base side and has a bit of an arm-side run, so our righties just pounded that into the ground on the left side of the infield and there was not a lot else we could do. He sat in there all day long on us, and he's won some big games for them this year. He's a tough arm and it was a well-pitched game, and they got the big run when they needed it."

That big run came in the eighth inning with the game tied 1-1. Back-to-back singles from William Koenig and Derek Legg ended Callegari's day, and after Miles Verwheel came in and recorded the second out of the inning, Jordan Johansen sprayed one into right field to cash in the game-winner, and make up for his earlier blunder that led to UBC's lone run.

The 'Birds capitalized on his mistake at third base in the fourth inning. Tyler Enns stole second and then went for third a few pitches later, but Koenig's clean throw had him beat easily. Johansen dropped it though, allowing Enns to each safely and later score on an RBI groundout from Jeremy Kral.

UBC now sits at 19-12 overall and 13-5 in conference play. They can lock up a playoff spot with a win tomorrow, and despite settling for a  split, McKaig is optimistic about what he saw from his side, and especially his starters, on Saturday as they gear up for the postseason run.

"That was the most efficient (Alex Graham) has been, which is a good sign for us. Both him and Sean seem to be finding their groove as the season winds down, and that 's something we haven't been sure of this year - who are our number one and number two guys. Jeremy Newton was for a while, and Brian Pawlina has also been outstanding as a freshman, but these are our two more experienced guys so that's a good sign."

Corban is now 24-18 overall and 9-13 in the conference, putting the pressure on Oregon Tech (7-13) to keep up in the race for the final playoff spot.

The 'Birds and Warriors wrap up their series on Sunday with another doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.

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