VANCOUVER - After the UBC Thunderbirds beat Corban 6-1 on Thursday afternoon to stay alive in the double-knockout NAIA West Tournament, the Menlo Oaks beat the 'Birds 6-0 in the nightcap to advance to the finals and knock UBC out of contention.
The Oaks will move on to play the tournament host Concordia Cavaliers in the finals for the West grouping's lone automatic berth to the NAIA Championships. The T-Birds will be hoping for an at-large berth to the next round based on their overall record of 26-17 and 19-9 conference record.
The Oaks got a tremendous performance from starting pitcher James Jensen, who led the team with 71.2 innings of work in the regular season with a 2.64 ERA and only 13 walks allowed. The Oaks' hitters got him a comfortable lead with a four-run burst in the fourth inning, and he demonstrated his impressive command and endurance with a complete game shutout, allowing seven hits and no walks, striking out five.
Bryan Pawlina got the 'Birds through three clean innings before Menlo's four-run, five-hit barrage, all coming with two outs. James Threw followed up two straight singles with a triple to left centre field to score the first two runs. Kyer Vega had an RBI single, and Jimmy Bosco hit an RBI double to make it 4-0 before
Conor Lillis-White came in for Pawlina.Â
Lillis-White shut the Oaks down nicely over 2.1 innings, but Menlo added another two runs on Miles Verwheel in the seventh, and the 'Birds left two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth
In their early game against Corban, the T-Birds scored all six runs in the third inning.
Tyson Popoff led off with a triple and scored on a bunt single by
Andrew Firth.
Mike Hole scored two more on a double down the right field line, and
Austin Fruson had an RBI double down the right field line.
James Stewart had an RBI single and
Jeremy Kral had an RBI groundout.Â
That was plenty of support for
Alex Graham, who went six innings of shutout ball to get the win.
Alex Webb allowed one run in two innings of relief, and
Connor Smith worked a scoreless ninth.
The Opening Round of the NAIA Championships runs May 9-13 at nine different predetermined sites across the U.S. The NAIA World Series runs May 24-31 in Lewiston, Idaho.
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