KEIZER, Ore. – Offence was at a premium in a pair of pitching duels Saturday as the UBC Thunderbirds and the host Corban University Warriors split a doubleheader that saw a combined four runs scored through 18 innings of play.

The Warriors took game one of the twin bill in shutout fashion (1-0) before the T-Birds won a tight battle of their own in the second game (2-1).  

Mason Shaw turned in a sparkling effort on the mound to lead the Warriors to a victory in the first game of the doubleheader.  

The Warrior righty tossed seven scoreless innings en route to the win, and he made a number of big pitches when he needed them. UBC's most promising threat came when it placed two runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth with nobody out, but some heads-up defense by Shaw, a timely strikeout of Nolan Weger, and an 'at-him' liner to right ended the rally without a run.  

The Warrior offense rode that momentum to manufacture a run in the bottom half of the stanza, with Nainoa Ka'ahanui sparking the sequence with a two-run double off the right field fence.



Ryan Clay then sacrificed him over with a well-executed bunt in the next at-bat. Senior Maxwell Jeffrey ripped an RBI sacrifice fly to centre field to bring home Ka'ahanui, the only run of the game on either side. 

Corban's defense also came up big in the game-one win, as the Warriors infield spun a season-high four double plays to escape multiple UBC threats. 

After Shaw's seven sparkling innings of work, Drew Scherrer closed it out with a pair of unblemished frames, earning his second save of the season along the way. 

After the pitchers—Corban's Nate Martin and UBC's Branden Woods—started game two with three scoreless frames apiece, the visitors struck first on a two-run homer from Brandon Hupe in the top of the fourth. 



Defensively, Corban's outfield helped keep the UBC run count to just two, ending both the top of the fifth and sixth by throwing out T-Bird baserunners trying to score from second base on singles. Kyle Clay gunned down the runner in the fifth with a pinpoint one-hop toss from left, and Chris Grayson did the same thing with an on-the-fly laser from right field the very next inning. 

Brad Pellkofer helped the Warriors halve that deficit in the fifth, roping a solo homer over the left-field fence for his second long ball of the season. 

That would turn out to be the only offence Corban could muster in the defeat, as Woods went on to earn the victory (3-0) on the mound, while Sean Heppner navigated Corban threats in the high-leverage late innings to earn his first save in the blue and gold.
 
Corban (21-21-1, 8-11) and the Thunderbirds (22-22, 9-9) will play each other for the final time this season in the series finale on Sunday with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. at Volcanoes Stadium.