Articles and Commentary
UBC 9, Albertson 6
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- Published on Friday, 12 May 2006 18:00
- Written by Administrator
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The Coyotes did not go home without a fight. They led 4-2 after five innings, and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth.
The Thunderbirds took an early lead on an RBI triple by Steve Bell-Irving in the first inning, and a sacrifice fly by Bell-Irving in the third. (Bell-Irving had a double later on.) Albertson got one back in the fourth, and took the lead with three runs in the fifth, chasing Thunderbird starter Doug Grant. The fourth inning was one that Grant will want to forget about as soon as possible. The run came on no hits; Grant walked the first batter, hit the second one, and the run came in on a passed ball. The hit batter broke the NAIA record for most hit batters in a career. (47, by Travis Houlihan of Flagler, 1998-2001). However, Doug tied the record over a month ago, and had several excellent outings since then.
Albertson's big fifth inning was the result an RBI single by Nic Florence, and a two-RBI single by Josh Przybos.
However, Albertson's pitching staff was stretched very thin, and the Thunderbirds got to Coyote relievers Paul Erickson, Patrick Lyon, and Lars Alsager in the sixth. They scored six runs, starting with Lyon walking pinch-hitter Brett Murray with the bases loaded. The next batter, Mark Capone, reached first on a very expensive error; he hit a fly ball in the shallow oufield behind second base. There was some confusion of who was going to field it, and the result was that the ball was dropped. Then Johnny Yiu hit a two-RBI single, and Connor Janes batted in two more.
The Thunderbirds completed their scoring with an RBI double by Mark Capone in the seventh; Capone did a great job of stretching a single into a double. Albertson added a run in the seventh on a double by Charlie Strandlund that was hit a long way (off Andrew LaFleur, who took over from Grant) in centre field, and an RBI single by Jake McGrady (off Brad Ashman) in the eighth.
Brendan Rolfe came on to pitch the ninth, and was greeted with singles by Casey Oliver and Drew Cauffman. Matt Miller was brought in to get the last out, and got it done.
This game was kept from being any closer by a couple of noteworthy defensive plays. In the second inning, Connor Janes made a great throw from right field to nail Strandlund at third base. In the sixth inning, Adam Campbell made a great catch of a line drive in shallow left field to rob Jake McGrady of a hit.
The attendance was 300, and this was the best crowd for a UBC home game in three years.
Box score and play-by-play
T-Birds claim second straight Region 1 title; will host Concordia in Super Regional
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