C of I Baseball Splits with British Columbia
CALDWELL, Idaho - A five-run second inning helped the University of British Columbia salvage a split of today's doubleheader with The College of Idaho, giving the T-Birds the host site for next week's NAIA Region I Tournament. The C of I took the opener, 6-2, while UBC took the nightcap, 9-6, at sunsplashed Simplot Stadium.
With one regional counting game remaining, the T-Birds (23-24, 17-6) hold a one-game lead in the pennant race, but hold all tiebreakers with the Coyotes - giving the Canadian school host rights for the regional four the third time in the last four seasons.
Things started out right for the Yotes (26-24, 16-7) in the opener, as Jake Bottari tossed a complete-game six hitter - defeating UBC's top hurler, Mark Hardy. After spotting the T-Birds a 1-0 lead, the Coyotes responded in the third, getting a two-run Jake Miller single and a Cody Brubaker sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. UBC cut the margin to 4-2 in the fifth, but a pinch-hit Gavin Gamboa RBI single in the fifth made it 5-2 and Brad Carlsen hit his team-leading sixth home run in the sixth to complete the scoring.
Bottari walked just one and struck out four to pick up his third win of the season, outdueling Hardy, who threw a three-hit shutout in Vancouver against the Yotes. Carlsen, Miller, and Dane McGrady each had two hits in the win.
Game 2 saw Yotes starter Pat Lyon rocked around by the T-Bird offense, as UBC recorded eight hits in the senior's one and a third innings of work. Jon Syrnyk had a bases clearing triple, followed by a long Fletcher Vynne home run to left to make it 6-0 in the second.
The Yotes would battle back, closing the margin to 7-5 in the sixth inning on an Alex O'Brien three-run homer, but could not get closer.
Kurtis Schumacher went five innings of three-hit relief to get the win for UBC. The Yotes got seven solid innings of relief from Andrew Brock, allowing two earned runs on five hits.
Mike Styrna went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Syrnyk had three hits and five RBI in the win for UBC, while Miller, O'Brien, and McGrady each had multi-hit games for the Yotes.
Tomorrow rounds out the regular-season for both teams, with the final home games for six C of I seniors - Lyon, Matt Greely, Jason Cox, Tim Bourner, Richie Snider, and Joey Zubizarreta. The 11 a.m. twinbill will be carried live on the internet at http://tbirdbaseball.net/content/view/392/65/ with Mike Safford calling the play-by-play.