April 20, 2024

By Jeff Sargeant

UBC Communications

VANCOUVER – The Lewis-Clark State Warriors (30-9, 16-3) completed a Saturday doubleheader sweep over the host UBC Thunderbirds (30-16, 15-8) Saturday at Tourmaline West Stadium with 3-1 and 8-6 victories.

Extending their win streak to 11 games, the No. 9 ranked Warriors inched a step closer to securing first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings while also eliminating any T-Birds' opportunity to host the conference playoff tournament in early May.

UBC played much better both on offence and in the field compared to Friday's series opener, but the Warriors managed to come up with some key hits and turned some clutch double plays to secure their second straight conference series win.

"I thought both teams played almost exactly the same," said UBC head coach Chris Pritchett. "We both pitched really well, relieving was really good. The hitting was similar, I thought they hit some balls that went out and we hit some balls, too, it just seemed to be at the wrong time of the game. In the first game with the wind blowing in, it was a 3-1 game that could have gone either way. They also made a couple diving plays, they made plays in both games that kept us from really coming back. Otherwise, I thought it was two good baseball games that could really have gone either way. They just played really well today and we didn't make a couple plays when we needed to."

GAME ONE

Similar to the first game of the series Friday night, the Thunderbirds struggled to string together meaningful offence, stranding a total of nine base runners.

The main difference, however, was UBC's fielding which was more up to their typical standard excellence. Starter Daniel Orfaly had one of his strongest outings of the season, pitching 8 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.

A pitcher's duel along with LC State's Shane Spencer didn't see the game's first run until a Dominic Signorelli solo home run in the top of the fourth. Two batters later, the visitors doubled their lead on a Charlie Updegrave solo shot to left.

The T-Birds threatened to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth with two on and two out, but one of Spencer's eight strikeouts ended the threat as the Warriors remained unscathed.

LC added a run in the top of the sixth with a Jake Gish solo shot. In their half of the inning, UBC once again appeared poised to strike but Aaron Marsh was tagged out at home to end the frame as the junior infielder tried to score from second.

Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, the T-Birds managed to break the goose egg when Kaden Zarowny scored from second on a Jonny McGill base hit to left. The Warriors brought in Cameron Smith to close out the game and the senior righty struck out his only batter to earn his fourth save of the campaign.

GAME TWO

Tied 2-2 after the first inning, the Warriors took a 5-2 lead in the top of the third after a Nick Seamons three-run homer.

Mitchell Middlemiss hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third to get UBC back within two runs, but LC restored their three-run advantage in the fourth on a Dominic Signorelli bloop single to shallow left that scored Jack Sheward.

The 'Birds' bats came alive in their half of the fourth and the home side managed to tie the game with some clutch hitting of their own. Trent Lenihan hit a two-out RBI single to plate Kaden Zarowny, pinch running for catcher Russell Young, UBC's first base runner of the inning. Jonny McGill then promptly perfectly placed the ball to centre field scoring another pair to push the score to 6-6.

Lewis-Clark re-took the lead in the top of the fifth when Charlie Updegrave hammered a solo homer right at the scoreboard in centre-right field. The Warriors tacked on one more run before Vicarte Domingo entered the game in relief and struck out his first two batters to end the inning.

Domingo was spectacular the rest of the way on the mound, completing the rest of the game. The junior reliever struck out a career high 11 batters – of the 15 total he faced – and allowed just two hits with zero walks and no runs.

Unfortunately for the T-Birds, LC's defensive play was equally as impressive as the Warriors held UBC off the board the rest of the way. Jace Hanson collected his fourth win of the season for LC State while Sean Heppner was tagged with the loss for the 'Birds after allowing eight runs on 10 hits through 4 1/3 innings along with eight strikeouts.

The second loss of the day ensures UBC they'll have to hit the road for the upcoming CCC conference tournament. While having already clinched a playoff berth, the 'Birds will look to avoid the series sweep in Sunday's finale in an effort to boost their potential seeding.

"Obviously we're all disappointed," added Pritchett. "They've beat us three times in row but today, those two could have gone either way and we could have had a much different feeling going into tomorrow. I thought Vic, that was the best he's thrown all year, that's a positive. Orfaly had his best outing of the year, that's a positive. All those things are really good if we just take a minute and think about what happened today. I thought we also had some really good at bats against some really good pitchers. It didn't work out and we'll just get back at it tomorrow, that's baseball."