ATHERTON, CA - The UBC Thunderbirds are heading to Menlo College in Atherton, CA this week for the NAIA West tournament as the no. 2 seed, looking to lock up a spot in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.
The winner of this week's five-team, double-elimination tournament draws an automatic berth to the opening round, a 45-team bracket broken into nine different mini-tournaments across the USA from May 12-16. The winner of each of those nine opening round tournaments join host Lewis-Clark State at the Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, ID from May 27-June 3 to battle it out for NAIA supremacy.
UBC enters the weekend as the no. 2 seed despite owning the best NAIA ranking among the five teams in Atherton. The T-Birds were ranked 20th in the latest NAIA Baseball Coaches Poll after putting together a 27-14 campaign, including a 23-9 mark in NAIA West North division play.
The T-Birds meet no. 3 seed Simpson University in the second game of the tournament at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Simpson finished second in the NAIA West South division with a 12-12 league record. They struggled outside of conference play, however, finishing just 14-26 overall.
Menlo, the no. 1 seed and tournament hosts, finished with a 19-5 record in the NAIA West South division and were 32-14-1 overall in 2011. Playing in Menlo's favour is their comfort at home, they notched a 24-5-1 at their own park, and a strong finish to the season that saw them go 16-2 over their final 18 games.
Joining UBC from the North Division is College of Idaho who went 19-13 in conference play and were 29-19 overall. As the no. 4 seed, they'll meet no. 5 seed Patten (24-28, 11-13) who earned the at-large berth into the NAIA West tournament.
A look at the Thunderbirds
UBC had an up and down finish to their regular season, closing their 2011 NAIA West campaign with just a 3-6 record over their final nine games. Those final nine games came against perennial arch rivals L-C State and College of Idaho but it was less the play of their opponents and more a lack of offence that hurt UBC down the stretch. During that swoon, UBC scored more than two runs just four times, including all of their wins.
The T-Bird line-up features just a pair of regulars batting over .300 in
Blake Carruthers and
Keaton Briscoe. Carruthers leads the way with a .325 batting average to go along with six home runs, 35 RBI, and 10 doubles while once again showing outstanding defensive skills in centre field. Briscoe, who mans second base, is hitting .300 with eight doubles, and 13 RBI to go along with a team-leading 33 walks and 18 stolen bases.
Austin Fruson and
Andrew Madsen have also worked their way into the starting line-up with more regularity over the past month and could provide the boost UBC is looking for on offence.
On the mound, senior
Eric Brown put together a stellar final regular season campaign. He sports a 7-1 record with a 1.87 ERA while striking out 57 batters and walking only 15. Fellow senior
Sheldon McDonald, who is working his way back from a shoulder injury, has also been impressive with a 1.66 ERA to his name to go along with a 6-2 record and 49 strikeouts. In relief,
Shawn Hetherington is UBC's go-to man with a 1.67 ERA over 32.1 innings with a pair of wins and five saves to his credit.
NAIA WEST TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, May 4
Game 1: 9 a.m. No. 4 Seed (College of Idaho) vs. No. 5 Seed (Patten University)
Game 2: Noon No. 2 Seed (University of British Columbia) vs. No. 3 Seed (Simpson University)
Game 3: 3 p.m. Game 1 Winner vs. No. 1 Seed (Menlo College)
Thursday, May 5
Game 4: 9 a.m. Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 5: Noon Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner
Game 6: 3 p.m. Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner
Friday, May 6
Game 7: Noon Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner
Game 8: 3 p.m. Game 5 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner
Saturday, May 7
Game 9: 3 p.m. Game 8 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser (if necessary)
