VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (30-14, 20-11) rebounded with a pair of tight road wins over the College of Idaho 'Yotes (21-27, 14-17) Saturday afternoon at Wolfe Field in Caldwell, Idaho.
After allowing the tying run in the bottom of the seventh, the 'Birds were forced into extra innings in the first half of the double header but a
Vinny Martin home run in the 11th scored the go-ahead and eventual game winning run as UBC ended a three-game losing skid with a 5-3 win.
UBC then rode strong pitching from starter
Adam McKillican and relievers
Liam Stroud and Pat van den Brink for a 3-2 win in the second half with a chance to earn a series win in Sunday's final game of the regular season.
The T-Birds wasted no time getting on the scoreboard to kick off the day as
Mitch Robinson hit a two-out single in the top of the first. Martin followed up with a double while Robinson was able to score on a fielding error.
But the 'Yotes fought back in the bottom half taking advantage of some UBC errors. After getting his first two batters to ground out,
Tyler Gillies hit two consecutive batters, both of whom were able to score thanks to a throwing error.
But the fielding trouble wasn't limited to the T-Birds and the 'Yotes allowed UBC to re-take the lead in the fourth thanks to some trouble handling the ball. Martin got his second hit of the game singling down the left field line and was advanced to second on a fielding error. Then a pair of throwing errors allowed
Mackenzie Parlow to round the bases as both he and Martin scored to give the 'Birds a 3-2 lead.
C of I stayed close until the bottom of the seventh when yet another mistake cost a run, this time thanks to a pair of balks, the second of which brought Nathan Hundley across the plate to tie the game at three, eventually forcing extra innings.
After a scoreless tenth, Martin's hot bat got even hotter as he hammered a two-run shot over the left field wall to put the 'Birds up 5-3 before Christian Botnik closed it out in the bottom of the 11
th.
The second half of the double header started out with quite the pitcher's duel between McKillican and C of I's Riley O'Brien as the game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth.
With two down and the bases loaded,
John Whaley scored from third on a wild pitch to open scoring for the T-Birds. Then down in the count,
Anthony Olson hit the ball to left field for a two RBI single.
The 'Yotes cut into UBC's lead in the bottom half of the inning when Jake Bowman got himself a two RBI single as the 'Birds led by a single run.
UBC went to the bullpen in the sixth inning bringing in Stroud who pitched a tremendous three innings striking out four batters and not allowing a single hit, setting up Pat van den Brink to close out the ninth.
Van den Brink allowed a one out walk but struck out his final two batters picking up the save while McKillican earned his second win of the season.
The victory earned UBC the season series win over the 'Yotes and capped off a nice rebound day after a disappointing start to the series on Friday.
The 'Birds will look to earn the series win in their regular season finale Sunday while also trying to keep some momentum going into the conference championship tournament at Thunderbird Park next weekend. First pitch in Sunday's last meeting with the 'Yotes is set for 10:00 a.m. PT at Caldwell's Wolfe Field.
