VANCOUVER, BC – The UBC Thunderbirds closed their regular season with two more wins Sunday as they celebrated Senior day against the Oregon Tech Owls by taking the morning game 7-4, then securing the series sweep with a 9-6 win.
Shane Laforest,
Nathan Shute, and
Nolan Weger celebrated their special day with a clean sweep and were honoured in-between games for their outstanding contributions to the UBC baseball program.
Laforest took the mound for game one on Sunday and was forced to deal with some aggressive Oregon Tech bats early. The visitors put pressure on the Belle River native and scored the game's first run in the second inning off of a defensive error.
A few walks and an error in the next inning loaded the bases for Oregon Tech's Ian Peters, who pushed a single through the left side to bring the Owls lead to 2-0. Laforest battled back and managed to force the last two outs of the inning to strand three men on base.
Brandon Hupe led the fifth inning off with a double to left centre, followed shortly by a walk to put two 'Birds on base.
Trent Lenihan stepped into the box and cut the deficit in half with an RBI single. Weger then muscled a fielder's choice to score the second run of the inning and tie the game 2-2.
Laforest's morning came to an end in the top of the sixth inning as
Graham Seltzer entered for relief. With runners on the corners, Matthew Ortiz successfully sent a sac fly to right field to re-take the lead, 3-2 Oregon Tech.
An Owls pitching change in the bottom of the sixth inning saw Alex Bratton take the mound in place for Cody Dubray, who's day finished with a couple of strikeouts while surrendering just three hits.
The 'Birds challenged Bratton's command early by earning two walks before the visitors quickly made another call to the bullpen. With two men on base, Brodie Maloney stepped into the game and was faced with one of the UBC's hottest bats.
Brett Corbeth continued his impactful weekend by delivering the game-tying RBI single through the middle of the defence. With one out,
Mike Fitzsimmons then ripped a single to centre to load the bases for the T-Birds to then take the lead off of a balk, 4-3 UBC.
The Owls tied the game at four in the eighth inning with an Ortiz RBI single.
The heart of the lineup answered in the next half inning for the 'Birds, as
Ty Penner kicked off the barrage with a single, followed shortly by a Hupe one-out double. After an intentional walk to load the bases,
Jonny McGill came through in the clutch with a single to bring home two runs and return the UBC lead. Weger then plated one more run with a nifty sac bunt dribbler, 7-4 UBC.
Vicarte Domingo earned his seventh save of the season as he closed out the victory by striking out the last batter of the game in electric fashion.
"Domingo and Haeppner are guys we count on," said UBC Head Coach
Chris Pritchett. "Both guys started the year with injuries. So to have them return to our back-end and knowing we can hand it off to them is a huge boost of confidence for our team."
Game 2
The Owls got to UBC starting pitcher
Brett Corbeth early in the second inning by loading the bases and cashing in with three runs to take a 3-0 lead.
The 'Birds chipped into the lead in the bottom half of the inning as a defensive error brought the game to 3-1.
The visitors strung together another strong stretch scoring three more runs in the third inning. Dalton Daily delivered a homerun to kick-off the run, followed by a couple of singles and a walk to loaded the bases.
Ardan Berg was called into the game to try and neutralize the jam, but Matthew Macias extended the lead with a double to bring home two more runs, 6-1 Owls.
UBC chipped away at the lead and brought the game within three runs in the bottom half of the third inning as Shute and
Trent Lenihan each added an RBI, 6-3 Oregon Tech.
The T-Birds added one run in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning to tie the game 6-6.
Aidan Rose drove a sac-fly to deep centre in the seventh inning to take the lead, then Fitzsimmons hit a no-doubter over the left-field wall to score two more runs and completely swing momentum in favour of the home side.
"There were some key homeruns this weekend," explained Pritchett. "Even going back to last weekend but I don't think we'll do that regularly. We'll definitely take them when they happen but we're looking for grind-it-out at bats to pass the baton onto the next guy."
Jake Richmond-Benner earned his first save of the season as he closed out the weekend sweep in front of another excited UBC crowd, giving
Oliver Duthie his first win of the season.
"Our guys are really pulling for each other," added Pritchett. "We're starting to get to a really good place. If we can match up our hitting with where it was at the beginning of the year with where our pitching is now, we have a chance to do some damage in the post-season. We're excited and looking forward to practice this week then getting down to Lewiston."
The 'Birds next action will be in the Cascade Collegiate Conference post-season tournament held in Lewiston, Idaho from May 9-11
th.
