After a successful sweep of the Simpson University Red Hawks on the road to open this year's NAIA West play, the Thunderbirds won two games and dropped two against the Corban University Warriors on their return home.
In the first doubleheader on Saturday, UBC won by scores of 2-0 and 2-1. The T-Birds saw outstanding pitching performances from Alex Webb and Curtis Taylor, who each earned seven strikeouts in their respective games. Kyle McComb tallied a run in both games.
“[The pitchers] threw extremely well, they were efficient. They were throwing all their pitches for strikes,” said Chris Pritchett, UBC's new head coach. “It made it a lot easier on us to come out with our two wins.”
UBC then played another two matches on Sunday. The T-Birds dropped both by scores of 1-0 and 9-3. Only the first game counted toward conference play.
The only run of the first game happened during the third inning when Corban’s Landon Frost hit a fly ball to centre field, which allowed teammate Ryan Rosas to score a run from the second base.
“We got to find a way to score a couple of runs there. We had a couple of opportunities, weren’t able to cash in and we just didn’t get enough pressure on them,” said Pritchett.
Despite the loss in the first game, the Thunderbirds did see impressive pitching by Connor Noble, who earned nine strikeouts and gave up only three hits in the eight innings that he stood on the mound.
Having scored only three hits in the first game, the T-Birds started the second with stronger momentum. UBC took an early lead when a line drive by Anthony Cusati to the left field drove home Bruce Yari from second base.
With the T-Birds leading 1-0 by the end of the first, the Warriors responded with a flurry of runs during the third inning to erase UBC’s lead. As Daniel Freiburger was on second base, teammate Kyle Kilian hit a double to drive him home before adding a run of his own. Hayden Calvert then got a third run for Corban to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth frame, Kilian scored his second run of the game to increase Corban’s lead to 4-1. After successfully stealing the third base on a wild pitch by UBC’s Jeremy Newton, Kilian returned home on a groundout by Benjamin Liogon.
After a powerful fifth inning by the Warriors, the T-Birds saw their strongest performance during the sixth. Cusati earned his second RBI of the game after driving a double down the right field to allow John Waley to score. Cusati then added another run on a single by Brendan Rose to narrow Corban’s lead to 4-3.
Despite a strong effort by the T-Birds in the sixth inning, an explosive seventh frame by the Warriors increased the scoring gap as Corban drove home five runs, securing the 9-3 victory.
“We were obviously disappointed that we lost two games … but we’re going to learn from that and we’re going to work harder,” said Pritchett.
UBC now holds a conference record of 5-1. The T-Birds’ next series of games will be at home against Lewis-Clark State College.
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