VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds baseball team (22-11, 8-5) won in two very different manners on Friday afternoon, taking 2-1 (extra innings) and 11-1 decisions over the visiting Oregon Tech Owls (10-22, 2-12) at Thunderbird Park.
 
Pinch running for Anthony Cusati (Burnaby, B.C.), Max Hollingworth (Coquitlam, B.C.) broke a 1-1 deadlock in the tenth frame of the first half of the doubleheader – after stealing third base, a throwing error from the Owls catcher Louis Wolf gave the second-year center fielder enough time to cross home plate, completing a dramatic comeback.
 
For much of the contest, it looked like the 'Birds were going to fall victim to a phenomenal pitching performance, as Oregon Tech's Michael McCall threw seven innings of no-hit baseball.
 
Still down 1-0 after a first-inning Oregon Tech run, T-Birds outfielder Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) nearly tied it up as the first batter of the ninth frame, driving a deep shot to center, nearly scoring on an inside-the-park home run, only to be thrown out at home.
 
That tying run came just a couple of batters later. With Lucas Soper (Vancouver) on third, Tyler Enns (East St. Paul, Man.) cracked a single to drive in the rookie outfielder and tie the game.
 
"I thought is showed great resiliency from our guys," said UBC head coach Chris Pritchett. "After being shut out for eight innings, and then Bruce getting thrown out on what could have been the tying run, they could have just packed it in. But, they didn't. They battled hard, got maybe our biggest hit of the year from Tyler to tie, and then we pulled out the win."
 
The rest of the contest was a pitching duel, and the 'Birds got excellent performances from both starter Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.) and reliever Jeremy Newton (Toronto).
 
Webb threw eight innings, giving up just the one run and sitting down 11 Owls. Newton was perfect in his two innings of work, surrendering nothing across the board while striking out two batters to earn the win.
 
The second contest saw the 'Birds, again down 1-0 after the top half of the first inning, retake control early. In the bottom of the opening frame, UBC notched two runs to pull ahead.
 
The 'Birds blew the game open in the second inning, driving in four runs to go up 6-1. The biggest single shot of the frame was a long single from Cusati, as it scored both Soper and Anthony Olson (Edmonton).
 
After his teammates had tacked on another three runs, Yari put the game to bed midway through the seventh frame – with the bases loaded, the outfielder unleashed a double.
 
With the T-Birds holding more than the 10-run lead required, the run rule was invoked, and the game concluded.
 
UBC's Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) went the distance on the mound, throwing six strike outs, and not surrendering a single earned run in the lopsided win.

The T-Birds and Owls will wrap up their series at Thunderbird Park with a final showdown tomorrow, March 26, at 11 a.m. (PT).