VANCOUVER - After the NAIA No. 2 Lewis Clark State Warriors handed them a 13-1 beatdown in the conference opener on Friday, the UBC Thunderbirds bounced back strong to win two of their next three against the Warriors, including a 6-5 nail-biter on Sunday, to split the series at two games each in Lewiston, Idaho.
For the third game in a row, UBC opened the scoring in the first inning, this time taking advantage of an error to lead off the inning on their way to two runs against Warriors starter Dillon Keene.
Bryan Arthur and
Bruce Yari each had RBI singles to get UBC on the board.
But the Warriors answered right back with a five-spot in the top of the second, which was also aided by some sloppy fielding. After Cody Lavalli led off with a homer and Michael Sexton tied the game up with an RBI single, Zach Holley dropped a sac bunt down that cashed in the go-ahead run and also gave UBC the second out of the inning. The 'Birds allowed the next batter to reach base on a throwing error, bringing home the fourth run of the inning in the process. And another error in the outfield on the next play allowed the fifth run to score, giving LC State a 5-2 lead.Â
That was the score heading into the fourth inning, where UBC's hot hitters continued to produce. Arthur cashed in
Brody Hawkins with an RBI triple - his second of the series - and
Max Hollingworth brought Arthur home with an RBI single for his seventh hit of the series to make it a 5-4 game.
In the fifth, the 'Birds tacked on another two runs to take the lead, and this time all it took was one swing, as Hawkins crushed a two-run homer to left field. He led all players three hits on the day, two of which went for extra bases.
That slim lead proved to be enough for the UBC pitching staff, which limited the Warriors to a single hit over their last four turns at bat.
Matt Thornton pitched 2.1 innings, striking out three and walking one, and
Curtis Taylor did a great job to get the 'Birds out of a two-on-one-out jam in the eighth to preserve the lead and earn the save with 1.2 innings of work.
Starter
Bryan Pawlina deserves a lot of credit as well for hanging in long enough to get the win. After the five-spot in the second, he only allowed one further hit in his five innings of work. His final line is three earned runs on six hits and three walks, with two strikeouts.Â
The offence was rolling most of the weekend for UBC, with the major exception of their lackluster effort in game one. Other than that, they posted hit totals of 11, 13 and 13 over the last three games of the series. Arthur had two more hits and two RBIs to give him six of each for the series (6-for-12) with two walks.
Tyson Popoff had two more hits as well to give him five for the series (5-for-19) and Hollingworth finished with seven hits (7-for-15). Other notables for the series were
Kevin Biro (5-for-15),
Bruce Yari (5-for-17).
One area the 'Birds are surely hoping to improve in is their fielding, which was a bit of a sore spot for both teams in this series. Just 22 of the Warriors' 32 total runs in the series were earned, and UBC had a total of eight errors. The Warriors made six errors.
The Warriors are now 11-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play. UBC is 9-5 and 2-2. The T-Birds have an exhibition game against Okanagan College scheduled for Wednesday, March 12 at Thunderbird Park. After that, they head back out on the road for a four game conference series with Concordia in Portland, Oregon. Their first home conference action comes the following weekend against Oregon Tech.
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