VANCOUVER - A match-up of top 10 NAIA squads is set for this weekend at Nat Bailey Stadium as the no. 10 UBC Thunderbirds (10-5, 6-0) host the no. 4 Lewis-Clark State Warriors (11-4, 2-2) for a quartet of games.
On Friday, the teams meet for a single duel at 2:00 p.m. Saturday's schedule features back-to-back nine inning games beginning at 12:00 p.m. and the series concludes with a single contest at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.
A look at the Thunderbirds
After a 4-5 pre-season road trip through California to start the season, UBC hasn't missed a beat in their conference schedule with six straight wins to jump into first place of the NAIA West's North division. The 'Birds went on the road and took four games from their rivals, no. 21 College of Idaho, to open their conference schedule. They added a pair of wins last weekend against Corban before bad weather put a stop to that series.
UBC's early success in conference play owes a lot to their pitching staff, who have conceded only nine runs in six games. Starters
Eric Brown (3-0, 1.42 ERA, 19 K, 5 BB) and
Sheldon McDonald (3-1, 2.19 ERA, 32 K, 3 BB) have been virtually flawless for the T-Birds, giving their squad a great chance at a win in all of their games this season. They also gotten great support from the pen, as relievers
Miles Verweel,
Luke Webster, and
Andrew Ledger all have sub-2.00 ERAs with at least seven innings of work. Ledger leads the team with a 0.96 ERA, having allowed just one run in 9.1 innings of works.
At the plate, the T-Birds are still finding their identity after losing their top two offensive threats -
Sammie Starr and
Nic Lendvoy - to graduation this season. Leading the way right now are a trio of youngsters in sophomore
Keaton Briscoe, red-shirt freshman
Sebastian Wong, and transfer
Matt Spillman. Briscoe sports a team best .358 batting average in addition to his 10 walks. Wong, who is often the T-Birds lead-off man, is hitting .341 in his first action for UBC while Spillman, the squad's new shortstop, is hitting .340 and has a team-leading 11 free passes.
Kevin Nickel has been UBC's biggest bomber this year, already with five home runs, seven doubles and a team-best 14 RBIs.
Blake Carruthers, who is also in his second year at UBC, has 12 RBIs and two home runs that have taken advantage of Briscoe, Wong, and Spillman's hot start at the top of the line-up.
A look at the Warriors
The most decorated program in NAIA history, L-C State begins a new era in baseball this year following the retirement of legendary head coach Ed Cheff. Change at the top didn't seem to affect the Warriors early on, as they ratted off six straight wins to open the season. Since then, however, they are only 5-4 including a pair of conference losses to Concordia last weekend.
Offensively, the Warriors are still a big threat as they are putting over almost nine runs per games. Braxton Miller leads the NAIA West with a .409 average and sports an .886 slugging percentage thanks in large part to six home runs. He's also knocked in 22 runs and alongside Gino Casini (17 RBI) and Brian Gaylord (19 RBI), has provided nearly half of all the Warrior runs this year. Connor Moore ranks second on the team with a .389 batting average while Cody Weiss, who is hitting .327, is one of five warriors with five doubles on the season.
On the mound, starters Tyler Barrett and Casey Edelbrock have been lights out. Barrett is 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA and has struck out 25 while walking just nine. Edelbrock has been nearly as good, with a 2-0 record and 1.56 ERA. In relief, Zach Hull has yet to allow a run in 11 innings of work and Cody Garner and his 1.04 ERA have been sharp as well. Recently, however, LC State has given up runs including totals of 13 and nine in their losses to Concordia.
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