FRESNO, CA - The UBC Thunderbirds 2010 Avista-NAIA World Series quest came to an end on Thursday night as the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions defeated the T-Birds 9-3 in the championship game of their 2010 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round tournament hosted by Fresno Pacific.
UBC's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 Avista-NAIA World Series ended with the loss as PLNU claims the lone spot at the Series up for grabs this week in Fresno.
Sea Lion starter Chad Blauer was nearly flawless on the night, racking up 16 strikeouts and giving up only six hits and three runs over eight and two third innings.
"Obviously we are very disappointed we didn't reach our final goal which was getting to Lewiston for the World Series but against the pitching we faced tonight, he just completely dominated us," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig.
Allen Boyer's three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth supplied all the insurance the Sea Lions needed with Blauer's performance on the mound.
UBC pulled starter
Brandon Kaye in favour of reliever
Andrew Ledger for an all-lefty match-up versus Boyer but it didn't matter as the Sea Lion star went deep over the right field wall with two on for a 5-0 lead in the fourth.
UBC cut into the lead in the sixth when
Sammie Starr hit a solo home run to left-centre and then added a pair of runs in the ninth with a two-out pinch hit single from
Christian Jolley but that was all they could manage off Blauer who was otherwise flawless on the night.
Starr led the T-Birds, tallying three of the their six hits in the final game of his UBC career.
Andrew Firth, a freshman, added two and Jolley one as Blauer conceded only five singles and the lone long ball.
"Sammie will go down as one of our better players that we've had here at UBC," said McKaig of the 5-foot-8 short stop. "I'm really proud of his offensive game. He could always play defence from the day he showed up but he's turned himself into pretty legitimate offensive threat. I really hope he gets his chance to go to the next level and see if he can do it there too because he's a really good kid who has worked his butt off for four years."
PLNU opened the scoring in the third with a pair of runs off a dropped fly ball in the outfield.
The T-Birds best chance to rally came in the top of the seventh as a pair of errors and a walk loaded the bases with two outs but Blauer got out of the jam with a routine ground ball.
A pair of pinch hits doubles keyed a three run eighth inning for the Sea Lions which made the score 9-1. UBC cut into the deficit with Jolley's effort in the ninth but that was the extent of their comeback.
Kaye lasted three and one third innings and gave up only four hits and four runs (two earned) but he also issued three walks while only striking out one.
Andrew Ledger,
Taylor King,
David Otterman, and
Shawn Hetherington also featured on the mound for the 'Birds.
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