LEWISTON, Idaho – Two giant innings – one in the first game and one in the second, powered the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to a Saturday sweep of Lewis-Clark State College at Harris Field.
 
UBC used an 11-run third for the impetus behind its 17-4 victory in the abbreviated seven-inning first game and a seven-run first for the power behind the 9-5 win in the second.
 
"They've had a real good approach three games in a row," said Warrior coach Jake Taylor after LC dropped to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in the Cascade Conference. "They found the metal.
 
"We didn't get quality starts from either of guys today. We got in a hole early and tried to play catchup the entire time. It didn't work. They threw some pretty decent arms against us. We didn't compete that well."
 
With the Thunderbirds (6-5, 2-1) able to build big, early leads, the Warriors found the challenge to catch up too much.
 
"We just have to get to a point where we can compete every day. We're hit and miss," Taylor said. "We put together some pretty decent innings then we don't. To come back we have to string some at-bats together. Credit them for that but we just have to be better."
 
The teams play Sunday at 10 a.m. for the final game in the four-game series. (Note time change).
 
Game 1
UBC scored once in each of the first two innings and LC had one run in the first as the teams entered the third with the Thunderbirds leading 2-1. Then the trouble started for the Warriors. UBC pounded out seven hits and took advantage of flurry of walks (5), wild pitches (2), passed balls (2) and one error to score 11 times and take a 13-1 lead.
 
The Warriors scored once in the bottom of the inning to cut it to 13-2 but the Thunderbirds added two more in the fifth and another pair in the sixth to up their total to 17. A Luke White home run (his first of the season) and an RBI single by Riley Way resulted in two LC runs in the sixth but that was all the Warriors could muster before the game was called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.
 
Game 2
The second game started with a deju vu feeling when UBC took advantage of five walks, five wild pitches, two passed balls and an error in the first inning to score seven times and, again, put the Warriors in the comeback role.
 
The Warriors did score twice in the second and two more in the third but the inability  to put together a string of productive at-bats prevented them from closing the gap. Senior right-handed Jesse Parker – in relief of starter Matt Driver, faced just 31 batters over the final eight innings and allowed just two more runs on a pair of doubles in the seventh.
 
Jack Johnson, in going 2-for-4 in the second game, drove in three runs and picked up his third home run of the series.