The British Columbia Thunderbirds and the Bushnell Beacons split a double-header at Tourmaline West Stadium in Vancouver, BC on April 25.
First game: British Columbia 10, Bushnell 0 (run ruled after 7 innings). This game was scoreless for three innings, and the Beacons missed a chance to score in the top of the third inning when Danny Womack was thrown out attempting to steal home. Lou Fujiwara opened the bottom of the third with a single, but was thrown out attempting to steal second.
The Thunderbirds loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with two walks and a hit batter. Braeden Scott got the scoring started with an RBI single. Matt Vrlak hit another RBI single, and Calvin Warrillow scored on a wild pitch. Fujiwara hit a two-RBI single, and that was the end of the day for Beacon starter Kai Keamo. His replacement, Jacob Courtney, walked the first two batters he faced, then gave up a sacrifice fly by Kyle Yip before finally getting out of the inning with the Thunderbirds leading 6-0.
The Thunderbirds added a run in the fifth when Warrillow scored on a bunt single by Vrlak. They ran it to 9-0 in the sixth with an RBI double by Josh Cote and Stephen Waters scoring when Warrillow reached on a fielder’s choice. Oliver Clements hit an RBI single in the seventh with Kansai Sugimoto scoring to end the game.
Will Anderson pitched the first six innings for the Thunderbirds, allowed two hits, struck out 11. Lukas Kaufmann pitched the seventh inning, allowed one hit. Vrlak and Fujuwara both had two hits and two RBI.
Second game: Bushnell 3, British Columbia 1. DJ Kauahi went the distance for the Beacons, scattered seven hits. He only recorded one strikeout; the Thunderbirds hit the ball hard lots of times, but the ball usually went directly to a fielder. This game would have been not as close if the Thunderbirds hadn’t completed four double plays.
The Thunderbirds got on the board first with a sacrifice fly by Josh Cote in the bottom of the first. They didn’t score again the rest of the way. They stranded runners on third in the first and eighth innings, and Oliver Clements was thrown out at home to end the third inning.
The Beacons got on the board with an RBI double by Albert Jennings in the top of the third inning, and Jennings scored the winning run on a single by Dylan Carson. They got the insurance run on an RBI single by Jennings in the seventh inning.
Starter James Brock got the loss. He pitched five innings, allowed one earned run on six hits, struck out three. Owen McConnell pitched the sixth through eighth innings, allowed one run on four hits. Marcus Janovsky pitched a perfect ninth inning. Jennings finished 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Kyle Yip finished 2-for-4 with a double for the Thunderbirds.
The loss by British Columbia means that Lewis-Clark State will host the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament if they defeat Warner Pacific in their remaining conference game on Sunday.
