Nic Lendvoy and the UBC Thunderbirds held on to capture the NAIA West divisional crown Sunday in Caldwell over College of Idaho.
UBC Captures NAIA West Divisional Crown
CALDWELL, ID - Bob Foerster's big day carried No. 3 ranked British Columbia to their second-straight NAIA West regular season divisional crown.
Foerster hit a two-run home run, and cashed in three RBIs, in the T-Birds 7-4 victory over No. 17 College of Idaho (36-12, 26-6) in a winner take all duel for the NAIA West pennant.
The win for the T-Birds (36-11, 27-5 NAIA West) gives the Canadian bunch the NAIA West North Division crown and the inside track for the host site for the NAIA West Postseason Tournament, this Thursday through Saturday. A vote among the eight loop coaches will determine the seeding and host site – with the results to be released on Monday morning, along with the tournament pairing and schedule.
The Coyotes (36-12, 26-6) nearly pulled of the improbable against the national power, as a three-run Diego Robles homer capped a four-run second inning in the opener. Jacob Coats went eight strong innings – his longest outing of the season, allowing three runs on seven hits, before handing the ball to Jared Arehart for his 2010 pitching debut, who tossed a scoreless ninth.
Jordan Lanman went 3-for-4 in the win for The C of I, with Gavin Gamboa adding a pair of hits and an RBI. Sean Pisarski went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI for UBC.
Game 2 saw the Yotes jump out to a 3-0 lead against All-American, Mark Hardy, as Robles lined an RBI single in the first and hit a line-drive two-run homer in the third. UBC plated a pair of unearned runs in the fourth, then tied the score on a Nic Lendvoy RBI single in the fifth.
The C of I would answer, as Kyle Douglas beat out a bases loaded infield single in the bottom of the frame, to make it 4-3. But Hardy got Arehart to ground out to short to limit the damage. In the sixth, Andrew Firth led off with a single and an out later, Foerster blasted his first homer of the season, well over the right-field wall, giving the T-Birds the lead for good. Back-to-back triples from Lendvoy and Mike Elias and a Firth sacrifice fly capped the scoring.
Hardy picked up his fifth win of the year, striking out five in his complete game effort, with Lendvoy and Forester each logging two hits. Robles had the lone multi-hit game for the Yotes – his 21st multi-hit and 18th multi-RBI game of 2010.