VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds swept their first home doubleheader of the 2015-16 NAIA baseball season, beating the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack 6-1 and 12-0 on Saturday at Thunderbird Park.
In Game 1, the T-Birds stepped up in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring five of their six total runs. Pinch hitter
Braeden Allemann (Surrey, B.C.) tripled to deep centre with the bases loaded, driving in three runs to make to give UBC a 3-1 lead.
Designated hitter Max Hollingworth (Coquitlam, B.C.) singled to centre to lead off the fifth. Then two consecutive bunt singles by left fielder
Brendan Rose (Calgary) and right fielder
Griff Goyer (Burnaby, B.C.) loaded the bases.
Shortstop
Kyle McComb (Surrey, B.C.) and third baseman
Anthony Cusati (Burnaby, B.C.) drove in the other two runs in the fifth while first baseman
Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) knocked an RBI single to right field in the sixth to round out the scoring.
TRU had been leading 1-0 until the fifth. UBC starting pitcher and 2015 Major League Baseball draft pick
Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.) walked in a run in the second, but that was it for the WolfPack's offence on Saturday. The fourth-year Applied Science student gave up just two hits in five innings to earn the victory, his second of the season.
In Game 2, the Thunderbirds maintained their offensive momentum, bringing home 12 runs.
UBC opened the scoring in the first thanks to two TRU errors on the same play.
McComb hit a grounder to shortstop but the throw to first was off the mark. Then the throw to second sailed into the outfield, allowing McComb to come home.
In the second, Allemann made it 2-0 with an RBI double that brought home Rose, who had led off with a triple. Two batters later, right fielder
John Whaley (Oakville, Ont.) put UBC up 3-0 with an RBI single. Yari and Cusati drove in two runs each later in the inning.
Starting pitcher
Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) impressed with his velocity, hitting 94 miles an hour on his first pitch and 95 on the second. The third-year hurler regularly hit the mid-90s during his four innings of work, which included six strikeouts and just one hit against.
"I work at it all the time," said Taylor, who wraps and ices his shoulder as a precaution after every game he plays. "Each off season I do my own strengthening routine. It's just kind of progressed since I was a kid and every off-season seems to get better. It's been pretty successful."
Taylor has moved into a full-time starting role after two years as a reliever and is confident in the ability of his teammates.
"We definitely have a chance to make a run at the World Series this year, for sure."
Chris Pritchett took over as UBC head coach this season from
Terry McKaig, and was impressed with his team's hard work.
"This is a terrific bunch, and there's some senior leadership that's already been here done that," he said. "They are deeply committed to doing things, on a daily basis, the right way. So, it's made my job very easy stepping in."
Allemann ended the day with four runs batted in and three hits in four at-bats.
This weekend's doubleheaders are the only home games on the fall schedule for UBC baseball. Sunday's doubleheader will begin at 11 a.m. at Thunderbird Park.
