As the reigning NAIA West Groupings champions for the last two seasons, the Thunderbird baseball team hosted the competition this year, but ended up falling short of the title.
UBC entered the competition with a second place finish in NAIA West and played its first game on Friday against the third-seeded College of Idaho Yotes, winning by a comeback in 11 innings. The T-Birds then conceded a 3-0 score to the top-seeded Lewis-Clark State Warriors on Saturday that saw pitcher Curtis Taylor earn 10 strikeouts in six innings.
On Sunday, the T-Birds once again faced the Yotes, but missed the chance for a championship as they dropped a 12-9 decision after a hard-fought battle.
“It was a bit of a tough one. We kind of ran out of gas near the end there but we fought hard and it’s going to get better,” said UBC first baseman Vinny Martin.
The Yotes took the lead early in the first frame when Brad Smith threw a wild pitch that allowed Mitch Skaggs to score from third base. Yotes outfielder Seth Champlin got the second run in the next frame to put Idaho up 2-0.
In the bottom of the second, Braeden Allemann cut the Yotes lead in half with a single to the right field to drive Anthony Cusati home. Thunderbird right fielder Griffy Goyer evened the score on the next play as Anthony Olson line drove to the left field.
Idaho retook the lead in the third when Champlin delivered a fly ball to centre field, sending Dalton Ridgway and Cole Mansanarez home.
As the bases were loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Goyer and Olson evened the score for UBC on Bruce Yari’s single to right field. Lichel Hirakawa-Kao added another run as Lucas Soper sent a line drive down the left field. Two plays later, Yari tallied another run as Yotes pitcher gave up a walk to Anthony Cusati.
“We put up some runs too. They just had more points than us today and we knew it was going to be a harsh scoring game," said UBC head coach Chris Pritchett.
Despite losing the lead, Idaho notched its fifth point in the top of the fifth frame before reclaiming it in the sixth on another run by Skaggs. An explosion of runs — including a third one by Skaggs — came in the seventh when relief pitcher Owen Kelly gave up a walk and two hits to the Yotes for a 12-6 lead.
Even with the six-run deficit, the T-Birds continued to show resilience in the bottom of the seventh and eighth with runs from Cusati, Soper and Tyler Enns.
“As far as the game is concerned, there’s not too much to concern or learn from, just make sure the guys are focused and get the right way to practice,” said Pritchett.
With the loss to Idaho, UBC will now set its sights on next week’s NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round.