CALDWELL, Idaho - The UBC Thunderbirds (27-13, 12-5) extended their winning streak to five after pulling out a 12-7 victory over the College of Idaho Yotes (11-28, 2-11) in game one of their four-game series.

Every T-Birds position player who played the whole game recorded at least one hit in the slugfest, with Mitchell Middlemiss leading the way with four knocks, adding a pair of runs and a pair of RBI. James Brock starred in relief for the 'Birds, taking over for starter Sean Heppner in the fifth inning and not allowing a run for the rest of the game to earn the win.

Both teams came out swinging hot bats as the T-Birds tallied three runs in the top of the first, highlighted by a Russell Young RBI double. However, the Yotes did them one better, putting up four in the bottom half of the inning to leave the first frame with a 4-3 lead.



The T-Birds took the advantage back in the top of the second, cashing three more runs on the strength of four singles and a hit by pitch.

The hitting settled down for a while, until the top of the fifth inning when UBC added four more runs behind another barrage of singles. The College of Idaho answered in the bottom half of that inning as well, chasing 'Birds ace Heppner and scoring three runs of their own to keep the visitors within striking distance, making it 10-7 for the blue and gold at the end of five.

A Jackson Boomer flyout in the sixth and a David Draayers single in the eighth added two more for the T-Birds, putting them up 12-7, but that proved to be icing on the cake.



Reliever James Brock needed no help from his hitters as he was simply lights out, giving up just three hits, walking none, and striking out six in 4.2 innings to pick up the victory.

In all, the 'Birds outhit the Yotes 15-8, also taking advantage of three College of Idaho errors while making none of their own.

The teams continue their series with a doubleheader on Saturday, first pitch scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (PT).