Coming off of a three-game sweep of Oregon Tech, the Thunderbirds baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games by sweeping the Simpson University Red Hawks for the second time.
“It’s definitely been up and down the last few weeks,” said Chris Pritchett, UBC's head coach. “I’m really happy with the direction that we're headed.”
In the first doubleheader on Saturday, the T-Birds won by 6-0 and 10-2. Alex Webb and Curtis Taylor again showed stellar pitching performances, striking out 12 and 11, respectively, and each giving only three hits. Centre fielder Griffy Goyer had an impressive four RBIs in the second game.
On Sunday, the ’Birds earned a 5-3 comeback before shutting out the Hawks 9-0.
The start to the first game on Sunday wasn’t the strongest for UBC as pitcher Connor Noble gave up back-to-back doubles against Kyle Ferguson and Aaron Curfman, allowing Simpson to score an early run. Two plays later, Kenneth Sellers put the Red Hawks up 2-0.
In the top of the fourth, the T-Birds trailed by another point as Noble hit two batters before giving up a hit to Cody Jamerson, which increased the Red Hawks’ lead to 3-0.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth that UBC finally got onto the scoreboard. After Vinny Martin tripled on a fly ball to centre field, he scored as Brendan Rose flew out to the left field. In the next inning, Anthony Olson reached second base on a throwing error by Simpson second baseman Jamerson before adding another run on a single by Anthony Cusati.
After trailing for six innings, the T-Birds erased the Red Hawk’s lead in the bottom of the seventh. As Olson and John Whaley occupied the first and second bases, Bruce Yari sent a triple down the right field to drive home the two runners. Cusati then earned his second RBI as Yari scored to secure UBC’s 5-3 win.
“Connor [Noble] wasn’t at his best, but we're able to pick him up, make some good defensive plays in key situations and then pump some big hits,” said Pritchett.
After starting with a deficit in the first game, the ’Birds went full throttle to start the second. John Whaley and Yari successfully stole the third and second bases before scoring on hits by Cusati and Goyer. Cusati later added another run to put the ’Birds up 3-0 by the end of the first frame.
UBC then had a flurry of runs in the second that started with a successful hit by Whaley as the bases were loaded. The scores came from Lichel Hirakawa-Kao, Kyle McComb, Olson, Whaley and Yari.
“We were able to capitalize on the mistakes that they made, which allowed us to put ourselves in a good position,” said Yari.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Yari advanced from first base to the third base on a throwing error by Simpson pitcher Garrett Yoder. He then scored his third run of the day as Cusati notched his fifth RBI, securing the 9-0 win.
UBC now holds a conference record of 13-6 and will travel on the road next week to face the Corban University Warriors.
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