VANCOUVER - Two of the best teams in the NAIA will go head-to-head this weekend when the no. 1 Lewis-Clark State Warriors (31-2) travel to Vancouver to battle the no. 6 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (30-6, 22-2) in a three-game duel at Thunderbird Park. The series begins Friday at 4:00 p.m. and continues Saturday and Sunday with games at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively.
It's the second meeting between these two squads in 2010. The Warriors swept three games from UBC in late March, taking two of those games by just one run. LC State has won 14 in a row while UBC hasn't lost since their trip to Lewiston, ID and are winners of 10 straight.
A look at the Thunderbirds
UBC enters this weekend series in the middle of a 15-game homestand against NAIA opponents. Last weekend they relied on impressive performances from their starting pitchers to sweep the Concordia University Cavaliers.
Mark Hardy put the exclamation point on the four-game sweep, pitching a seven-inning no-hitter in UBC's 2-0 victory during the second half of Sunday's doubleheader.
Brandon Kaye was nearly as impressive in the first tilt of the day, throwing a complete game three-hit shutout as UBC won 3-0. The first doubleheader of the series saw
Eric Brown and
Sheldon McDonald each at the top of their game, as UBC rallied for a 9-7 win in the first tilt and then led from start to finish in the night cap winning 6-2.
The quartet combined for 29 innings of work over the weekend, allowing only 14 hits, two earned runs, and eight walks while striking out 24 Cavaliers. For the season, they are a combined 21-4 and have given UBC 193.5 innings. Kaye leads the way with a 2.24 ERA and a .181 opponent batting average while Brown (6-0, 2.32 ERA) and Hardy (4-2, 3.59 ERA) have struck out 43 and 42 batters respectively. McDonald (6-2, 2.64 ERA) has struck out 37 while only walking eight.
Their work on the mound is buttressed by a solid bullpen that features long relief specialist Dan Britton-Foster (28 innings, 4-0, 2.25 ERA) as well as situational relievers
Miles Verweel (8.1 inn, 2.16 ERA) and
David Otterman (9.2 inn, 2.79 ERA). The T-Birds boast a pair of pitchers with closing ability as both
Taylor King and
Shawn Hetherington have five saves apiece.
Despite a disappointing team performance at the dish last weekend, rookie
Keaton Briscoe continues to light it up in his freshman campaign. Batting lead-off, the left-swinging third baseman sits third in NAIA West with a .395 average and has knocked in 30 RBI. Senior DH
Nic Lendvoy sits seventh in the conference with a .380 average and leads the team with 54 hits, 13 doubles, and 36 RBI.
Blake Carruthers (.364, 6 HR, 30 RBI),
Andrew Firth (.354, 2 HR, 19 RBI), and
Sammie Starr (.350, 11 2B, 25 RBI) all rank among the top 15 in NAIA West batting average.
A look at the Warriors
The most decorated program in NAIA baseball history, the Warriors are back at the top of the heap this year and have been the no. 1 ranked team since the first poll of the 2010 season. They boast the best winning percentage in the NAIA at .939 thanks in large part to their dominant pitching staff which ranks first overall with a 2.46 team ERA.
Tyrel Poggemeyer (32.1 inn, 3-0, .084 ERA) is one of two LC pitchers with an ERA under 0.90 and is joined in that lofty club by reliever Stephen Foster (2-1, 0.90 ERA). Colby Hawk (5-0, 1.86 ERA) and Tyler Knigge (6-0, 2.53 ERA) anchor a very deep staff that features eight hurlers with ERAs under 3.00 with a minimum of 15 innings pitched. Their depth means that no pitcher has thrown more than 40 innings this season.
Offensively, depth is also the key word for the Warriors. Twelve regulars are batting .305 or better and as a team, they own a .525 slugging percentage. Pacing the group is Brian Burke who has 14 home runs and 46 RBI to his name to go along with a .351 batting average and .733 slugging mark. Pat Murray (6 HR, 13 2B, 27 RBI) tops the squad with a .406 average and is one of four Warriors with five home runs or more. Brian Gaylord (.386, 17 2B, 5 HR, 21 RBI) and Josh Ashenbrenner (.333, 8 2B, 7 HR, 33 RBI) are the other two members of that group and are also a big reason why LC State tops the NAIA in doubles per game.
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