VANCOUVER – In the fourth and final game of the weekend, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated The College of Idaho Yotes 1-0 to split the series at Tourmaline West Stadium. Strong play at the mound was on display Sunday morning, but the visitors struggled with the wet conditions as they coughed up five errors on the day compared to the T-Birds zero.
The Yotes began the game with a Jonah Hultberg double to right field. Patience at the plate then drew a walk to put two men on base before T-Birds starting pitcher
Brett Corbeth forced a groundout to end the inning.
Corbeth made quick work of the Yotes in the top of the third, retiring his second batter of the game.
UBC flashed more leather in the top of the fifth inning, which ended on beautiful double-played turned by
Cameron Sanderson and
Mike Fitzsimmons to keep the game scoreless.
"The middle was really good today," said UBC Head Coach
Chris Pritchett. "That play they turned was big league. Cam ranging to his left, spinning and throwing to second, that took a lot of athleticism and arm strength."
The 'Birds were buzzing after the great defensive play, loading the bases with a couple of hits mixed in with a Yotes error in their next at bats. Colby Durski got his team out of the jam to escape the inning by forcing a groundout, leaving three men on bases.
UBC's
Adam Khan took the mound in the seventh inning as the rain started to come down. Trevor Watkins connected on a double to right centre field, then tried to steal third base but
Noah Or was up for the task and gunned him down from behind the plate for the second out of the inning. After walking the next batter, Khan forced a groundout to end the inning.
The Yotes got out of the eighth inning with a powerful relay throw from the outfield. Shute was thrown out at the plate after rounding third base looking to extend UBC's lead to two.
Sam Van Snellenberg stepped into the game to close the game for UBC and did exactly that. Forcing a routine groundout for the first out and striking out the next two batters to give his team the series split.
The T-Birds finished the game with three more hits than the Yotes, and played a clean game with no errors compared to the visitors five. Or's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning was the difference Sunday morning, as the pitching duel drew a range of fly balls.
Corbeth's six strong innings kept the visitors at bay as he struck out three batters while only allowed two hits. Khan earned his first win of the season, along with Van Snellenberg's first save.
"When the winds blowing in and it's cold our park's hard to score runs in," added Pritchett. "I thought we just stuck with it, and in these kinds of conditions it's whoever defends and pitches better and I thought we were a little today better on the mound and field today. Statistically, we're pretty comparable I'd say and the series was like that. Every game was a one run game so not surprising but I'm proud of our guys for sticking together and getting it done today."
The T-Birds will be back on the road next week for a four game weekend series against Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) starting at 3:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, March 25th.
