Coming off of three straight losses to the Oregon Tech Owls, the UBC baseball team made up for their slump by proceeding to win three straight games against the College of Idaho Yotes.
The first game on Friday ended in a 7-0 shutout, where Nick Spillman, Griffy Goyer, Anthony Olson, John Whaley, Tyler Yorko, Mitch Robinson and Kyle McComb each recorded one run. Pitchers Connor Noble and Aidan Goodall combined for nine strikeouts from the mound.
“A few walks here or there and they hit me around a little bit early, but thankfully I didn't give up any runs,” said Noble after the game.
“[Noble's] a gutsy kid. He went out and competed with what he had, and he pitched phenomenal,” said head coach Chris Pritchett.
After Friday’s win, the ’Birds came out strong again on Saturday, winning back-to-back by 4-2 and 6-5.
In the first game, Yorko picked up a run for UBC early in the first on a wild pitch by Idaho's Anthony Martine. Idaho answered in the next frame with runs from Hunter Hanson and Ryan Murkle to lead 2-1.
Left fielder Brendan Rose, Robinson and Yorko then respectively scored during the third, sixth and seventh innings to lead UBC to its 4-2 win. Robinson batted in both Rose and Yorko during the game, and now leads the team in runs batted in (RBIs) with 28.
UBC opened the scoring again in the second game when Rose returned home for the second time of the weekend. The Yotes then responded with two runs in the fifth before a run by UBC's Austen Butler in the seventh equalized the game 2-2.
The game then went into extra innings, which ended in a tight race. Yotes' Sam Grise and UBC's Vinny Martin scored a run in the 13th, followed by two runs by both teams in the 14th. In the bottom of the 16th, Yorko returned home for the fifth time of the weekend to break the tie.
“Guys were tired, it was a long day, it was cold, but they didn't back down and I was really proud of how they kept putting pressure on that team and responded,” said Pritchett.
With three wins, the ’Birds looked to sweep the Yotes for the weekend on Sunday, but the game was suspended after four innings due to the rain.
This time, the Yotes took the initial lead in the top of the second on a wild pitch by UBC's Adam McKillican. Two innings later, McKillican gave up two more runs on another pitch, extending Idaho’s lead to 3-0.
Despite the trail, UBC responded with an explosive inning in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. Martin smashed a ground ball to left field, driving home Spillman from third base. Whaley and Rose then had sacrifice flies to allow Robinson and Martin to score. Butler had the last run of the inning on a triple by Olson.
The final game of the series will resume on April 28, when the ’Birds travel to Caldwell for their next series against the Yotes.
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