VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds exploded for eight runs in the 12th inning on Sunday to put an exclamation mark on their four-game sweep of the Concordia Cavaliers with a 14-6 win in Portland, Ore.
Both teams were swinging the sticks well on Sunday, pushing their hit totals into double digit territory by the time Concordia tied the game up at six in the bottom of the seventh inning. But after that, the offence dried up for several innings and the teams were deadlocked until the top of the 12th, when UBC broke through with eight runs to put it away.
After three of the first four hitters of the inning reached base,
Kevin Biro started the merry-go-round with a two-run single to make it an 8-6 game.
Bruce Yari's single then re-loaded the bases, and
Cam Firth drove in the third run of the inning with a walk.
Matt Spillman and
Tyler Enns kept things spinning around with RBI singles, and
Aaron Horanski also walked in a run to make it 12-6. The last two runs came courtesy of a
Tyson Popoff groundout and a single from
Bryan Arthur.
The win goes to
Matt Thornton, who held the Cavs scoreless over the final 2.1 innings, allowing only one hit. It was his third appearance of the four-game set that saw him pitch a total of 4.1 shutout innings in which he allowed only two hits and no walks.
Curtis Taylor also made his third relief appearance of the series as both teams' pitching staffs were stretched to the limit. He struck out three and allowed two hits and no runs in his 1.2 innings of work, giving him 3.2 shutout innings of work this weekend with four strikeouts and four hits allowed.
Starter
Jeremy Newton allowed four runs on eight hits in his five innings of work.
Tyler Gillies worked three innings in relief, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks.
The T-Birds got started in the first when Biro's grounder scored Arthur from third. Arthur singled and advanced on
Jerod Bartnik's double. The Cavs responded immediately in the bottom half, with two straight singles, a sac bunt and an RBI groundout of their own.
The small-ball continued in the second, where Spillman led off with a walk and Enns was hit by a pitch to put two men on with none out. The runners advanced to second and third on a groundout, and Popoff brought Spillman home with a sac fly to make it 2-1.
The Cavs got to Newton in the fourth with a three-spot on four hits to go up 4-2, but he managed to hang in and finish five full innings. And he left with the score tied, because in the top of the fifth the 'Birds got two more on RBI singles from Biro and Yari.
UBC then regained the lead in the sixth when Horanski tripled to bring Enns home. Popoff's RBI single scored Horanski to make it 6-4 T-Birds. But the back-and-forth pattern continued in the seventh, when the Cavs evened things up again. An error and two walks loaded up the bases with two outs for Cole Buruse, who singled up the middle to score two runs before he was gunned down going for second to end the inning.
The hits were 21-13 in favour of UBC. The T-Birds had 52 hits in the four-game series, while Concordia tallied 29. Biro led the way on Sunday with four hits and four RBIs. Popoff, Arthur and Spillman all had three hits and at least one RBI each on the day.Â
For the series, Biro hit a scorching 11-for-21 with six RBIs. Arthur was 6-for-15. Popoff was 6-for-18 with three walks and five RBIs. Bartnik was 6-for-19 with three walks. Spillman was 5-for-17 with two walks and five RBIs. Horanski only played two game but was highly efficient, going 4-for-8 with four RBIs and a walk.
UBC improves to 13-5 overall and 6-2 in conference play. That puts them in an early tie for first in the NAIA West with Lewis-Clark State, who they split their conference opening series with last week. Concordia falls to 12-9 and 3-5.
The T-Birds finally get their conference home opener next weekend against Oregon Tech. After a mid-week exhibition doubleheader against Thompson Rivers, UBC and Oregon Tech will play doubleheaders on Saturday, March 22 starting at noon, and Sunday, March 23 at 11 a.m.
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