KEIZER, Ore. – The Corban University baseball team made some costly errors and was unable to get runners to score in key moments on Friday, resulting in a pair of defeats against the University of British Columbia in NAIA-West Conference action. After losing game one, 4-3, the Warriors dropped game two, 5-3.

"In game one, we just couldn't get a ball to fall with runners on against the best pitcher in the league," said Corban head coach Jeff McKay. "Our defense put us in the hole early, but we battled back well. Rilyn gave us a great effort on the mound and deserves better."

In the first inning of game one, the Thunderbirds took advantage of three Corban errors, scoring three runs. The Warriors answered in the bottom half of the frame on a UBC defensive mistake, but over the next several innings, both teams' offenses couldn't get going.

UBC scored one in the fifth and then the Warriors responded with one in the sixth and another in the eighth, but that would be all they would get.

In the game-one defeat, both Drew Loera and Zach Penrod tallied a pair of hits for the Warriors, while on the mound, Rilyn Lewchuk went the distance, throwing all nine innings while allowing four runs, two of which were earned.

For UBC, Connor Noble earned the win, throwing seven innings while giving up three runs, all of which ended up being unearned. Patrick van den Brink earned the save for UBC, throwing two innings while giving up just one hit.

In game two, UBC went ahead 3-0 in the third, added one in the fifth and then another on a home run in the seventh from Mitch Robinson.

Corban would rally, with Austin Marsh ripping an RBI double in the seventh and then Ethan Bragg laced another RBI double in the same inning to cut the deficit to three. The Warriors made it a 5-3 ballgame on an RBI walk in the eighth, but an inning-ending double play killed off Corban's chances at the comeback, sealing the defeat.

"Game two was very similar to game one," said McKay. "Had many changes to get back into the game, but we could not push through. Hopefully tomorrow those hits will fall in. That is what has to happen to beat a conference leader like UBC.

Corban totaled six hits in the loss, with Loera notching two. For UBC, the Thunderbirds racked up 14 hits, with Vinny Martin going 4-for-4 at the dish while Robinson finished 3-for-5. Earning the win on the mound was Niall Windeler, as he went seven innings in the victory.

The two teams are back at it tomorrow at Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium as they will close out the series at 11 a.m. with a doubleheader.

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