VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds baseball team swept their NAIA West Grouping doubleheader against the Corban (Ore.) Warriors on Saturday in Vancouver, winning 2-0 and 2-1.
 
UBC rode outstanding pitching to the Saturday sweep, as both Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.) and Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) threw complete-game victories.
 
Webb gave up just three hits in the opening-contest shutout.
 
Both UBC runs came in the fifth inning. Shortstop Kyle McComb led off with a double to left field, and advanced to third when the next batter, second baseman Anthony Olson, hit a single to right. On the next play, Olson went to second on defensive indifference.
 
Centre fielder Tyler Enns (East St. Paul, Man.) plated McComb on a sacrifice fly to centre, while Olson advanced to third. Olson then came home on a Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) groundout.
 
That was more than enough offence for Webb, who retired 12 of the final 13 Corban batters he faced. The senior is now 6-0 with a 1.17 earned run average.
 
Both Olson and rookie Lucas Soper (Vancouver), who was the UBC designated hitter in Game 1, went 2-for-3 at the plate. Yari, Cusati and McComb had the other hits for UBC.
 
The second game followed a similar pattern, as T-Birds' hurler Curtis Taylor went the distance, giving up just a lone run and three hits.
 
UBC did its damage offensively in the home half of the third inning. Catcher Mike Orosz (Vancouver) and McComb led off with back-to-back triples, with the latter scoring courtesy runner Lichel Hirakawa-Kao (Vancouver) to make it 1-0. Olson then doubled to right to plate McComb for the eventual game-winning run.
 
The Warriors replied in the fourth when Hayden Calvert launched a solo home run – his third of the season – to cut the lead to one. But Taylor allowed just three Corban players to get on base after that.
 
Corban had a chance to tie the game in the ninth inning, Kyle Kilian got aboard with a one out single, but a Thunderbird double play ended the threat and sealed the doubleheader sweep for UBC.
 
One of those base runners, Kilian, was on first in the ninth inning when Calvert flew out to left field, but was then doubled up to end the game.
 
Taylor improved to 4-1 on the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.59 with his performance on Saturday.

Olson, Cusati and Orosz had two hits each, while McComb added the other hit for the Thunderbirds.
 
Corban (3-10, 1-4 NAIA West) will take on UBC (19-5, 5-0 NAIA West) in another doubleheader tomorrow at Thunderbird Park. The first game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. PT and will be a conference matchup. The fourth and final matchup of the series is non-conference and will be played after the conclusion of Game 3.