VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds (17-15) secured an impressive series win against the nationally ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors (19-7) with a 3-1 victory at Tourmaline West Stadium Sunday afternoon. The T-birds pitching continued dominate a normally explosive Warriors lineup as
Ryan Heppner and
Daniel Orfaly combined to allow just one run and six hits on the day.
"Once again, I thought both teams pitched really, really well," said UBC head coach
Chris Pritchett. "We had a couple of two out hits that were the difference. It was a well played game, defensively. We're just really happy to win a series at home and hopefully we can start to move this thing forward and ride this a little bit."
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After their bats were quiet for the first three games of the series, the Warriors tried to get their offence going by attacking pitches earlier in the count. Leadoff hitter Carter Booth slapped the first pitch of the game down the third base line for a double. He was immediately bunted over to third, but a strikeout and flyout let T-Birds starter
Ryan Heppner escape the inning unscathed.
Heppner was back in trouble in the second. He issued a four pitch walk to Lewis-Clark's Jack Sheward with one out before Isaac Haws bounced a two-out single up the middle to move Sheward to third. Heppner wriggled out of the jam again though, striking out Booth on a high fastball to end the threat.
The 'Birds got their first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the inning.
Russell Young was hit by a pitch to lead it off before advancing to second on an errant pickoff attempt by Warriors starter Drake George. However, George proved just as capable as Heppner at getting out of trouble, drawing two groundouts to shortstop and a pop out to hold Young at second base.
Both pitchers cruised through the third, but in the fourth Lewis-Clark's Dominic Signorelli drew a 10 pitch walk with one out. Jack Sheward and Leo Rivera then hit back to back singles into left field, scoring Signorelli. Heppner settled down from there and got Haws to hit into a double play, ending the inning and limiting the damage to one run.
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The 'Birds responded in their half of the fourth. Young smacked a one out single to right before
Kyle Anderson drilled a line drive into the right field corner to put runners on second and third. After
Brett Corbeth struck out,
David Draayers came through for UBC, hitting a double to the wall in right-center field to score both runners and give the home team the lead.
The T-Birds added to their advantage in the fifth.
Mike Fitzsimmons ended up on second with two outs after Warriors second basemen Pu'ukani De Sa threw a potential double play ball out of play.
Jonny McGill then slapped a line drive single to left to score Fitzsimmons and extend the UBC lead to 3-1.Â
The 'Birds threatened again in the sixth as Corbeth drilled a one out triple to right center field. Draayers then stepped up to the plate with a great chance to add another RBI. He hit a hard ground ball but it was right at first basemen Leo Rivera, who was playing in. Corbeth broke for home on contact but Rivera made a strong throw to the plate and the UBC center fielder was tagged out on a close play.Â
In the seventh the T-Birds loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a hit batter, walk, and infield single. Bryson Spagnuolo then took over the mound for the Warriors and struck out
Kyle Anderson looking to keep the lead at two.
Lewis-Clark hitters simply could not get anything going against UBC reliever
Daniel Orfaly who shut them down the rest or the way. Orfaly picked up the win in relief after allowing just two hits while twirling five shutout innings.
"I just need this team to start believing in themselves," said Pritchett. "We have good players and a good team, but we haven't played like a good team. So I think when they see themselves beat the number three team in NAIA that will hopefully start to build some confidence and lead to more success."
The T-Birds are back in action next weekend when they visit Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, OR for another four game set. Lewis-Clark State returns home next weekend for a four game series against Oregon Tech.
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