VANCOUVER - The Concordia Cavaliers had just enough left in the tank after a 15-inning win in their tournament opener to score two early runs on
Sean Callegari, and while they were effectively shut down after the second inning, they managed to hang on for a 2-1 win over the UBC Thunderbirds on day one of the NAIA West tournament in Portland, Oregon.
BOX SCORE
UBC had a bye through the first round of the double knockout tournament as the top seed, but the Cavs had to be feeling good about surviving their marathon battle against Oregon Tech to start the day, and they seized the momentum early against the 'Birds with a run in each of the first two innings.
Blake Drake led off the first with a walk, advancing to third on a couple grounders before scoring on a wild pitch. In the second inning, the Cavs got three of their six hits in the game to load up the bases, and Cole Shidaki's walk forced in the second run.
Callegari settled down after those early hiccups to stike out nine batters while going the distance, but the 'Birds were having their own offensive struggles against Cavs starer Jason Snodgrass. They finally got to him in the sixth with a three-hit rally capped off by an RBI single from
Greg Densem, and had the bases loaded with a chance to tie or even take the lead on another hit, but Snodgrass induced a grounder from
Kevin Biro to get out of the inning.
After walking two batters in the seventh, he again worked his way out of trouble to finish the day with a line of seven innings pitched and one run allowed on seven hits and three walks, with four strikeouts. Blake Evetts took over to close things out with flawless work in the eighth and ninth, striking out three to get the save.
Tyson Popoff went 3-for-4 while scoring UBC's lone run. Densem had two hits.
With the win, the tournament host Cavaliers are just a game away from the finals. They will take on Menlo on Thursday at noon, with the winner getting the first spot in the championship game.
The T-Birds now have to win the rest of their tournament games to get the grouping's lone automatic berth to the NAIA Championships. Their next test comes at 3 p.m. on Thursday, when they will take on the winner of the 9 a.m. Oregon Tech/Corban game.
If they win, they will play again immediately after that game against the loser of Menlo/Concordia.
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