Over the weekend, the UBC baseball team played the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors in a three-game conference series, dropping the first two games before earning a blowout win at Tourmaline West Stadium.
Friday night’s game ended in an 8–3 loss for the Thunderbirds. Although the ‘Birds led 2–1 after the fourth inning, thanks to a two-run home run from catcher/outfielder Kyle Yip, the Warriors bounced back with two runs each in the fifth, sixth and ninth to cement the win.
Saturday’s first game started off with the Thunderbirds at bat. Pitching from the Warrior’s Jadon Williamson and UBC’s Will Anderson kept the game scoreless until the eighth inning. The ‘Birds had close chances in the bottom of the second and sixth, leaving two runners on base when they were struck out by Lewis-Clark.
Warriors catcher Jack Sheward gave his team the lead in the top of the eighth, when he hit the ball deep to left field, allowing Izzy Madariaga to get on the scoreboard. The Thunderbirds quickly responded — infielder and UBC batting leader Trent Lenihan got a solo home run for a tie.
The tie didn’t last long, however, because at the top of the ninth, Warriors player Dominic Signorelli scored, before relief pitcher Kolby Soloman finished the game with a three up, three down innings resulting in a 2–1 victory for Lewis-Clark.
As the second game got underway, there was more momentum building from the low-scoring game previous. In the opening inning, the Warriors took charge with four runs on five hits, but the Thunderbirds responded quickly and threw punches in the bottom half.
UBC outfielder Jonny McGill made his mark with a two-run blast, followed with a double by Lenihan. Kyle Anderson and David Draayers both got a run batted in, with Anderson scoring himself off Russell Young’s hit, to an early 5–4 lead.
Gaining momentum, the Thunderbirds kept on the offensive. In the bottom of the third, with bases loaded, first-year David Kraun hammered a ball down left field to advance their lead. But it didn’t stop there; McGill scored and the ‘Birds got three more unearned runs to end the inning ahead 14–4.
“I thought we swung it really well today. A lot of the guys came up clutch, especially some of the younger guys,” said fourth-year pitcher Oliver Duthie. “A lot of shut down too which was important.”
Lewis-Clark came back in the fifth inning, notching a home run plus a score from both Marquez and Sheward. At the top of the seventh, the Warriors added three more runs after Abe Affholter hit it past the wall to cut the T-Birds’ lead down to four. However, it all seemed in vain as UBC earned six runs and the game ended early, 20–10 for the home team.
“I think anytime you give up 10 runs there’s always room for improvement, but we saw from game one that we can pitch really well,” said Duthie.
The Thunderbirds now travel to Idaho for a series starting Friday.
— Additional reporting by Lauren Kasowski
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