ATHERTON, CA - The second-seeded UBC Thunderbirds lost 7-2 to the College of Idaho Coyotes in the first championship game at the NAIA West tournament, setting up a do-or-die championship final on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Atherton, CA.
UBC, which had been 2-0 in tournament play including a 6-3 win over C of I, could have clinched the NAIA west title and an automatic berth into the NAIA opening round with a win on Friday as it would have handed the Coyotes their second loss in the double-elimination tournament.
Instead, the two NAIA West rivals meet one more time to see who will claim that all important automatic berth. UBC would still be in the running for an at-large berth into the NAIA opening round should they lose but their fate would then be out of their hands.
"It was a disappointing performance today as we didn't execute well in any facet of the game. Now everything is on the line tomorrow," said UBC head coach
Terry McKaig. "Full marks to College of Idaho as they are playing very well right now and we'll need to match their effort tomorrow. We had a good win against them earlier this tournament. We need to get back to that level of intensity if we want to come away with a win."
C of I jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of single run innings in the second and third.
Andrew Firth smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the third to make the score 2-1 but the Coyotes continued to chip away with another run in the fourth.
That marked the end of the day for UBC starter
David Otterman who struggled with his command over the first four innings. The hard-throwing left-hander gave up four hits and three walks while striking out three.
The 'Yotes continued to pull away in the fifth, tacking on a pair of runs to make it 5-1.
UBC mustered their best effort of the game in the bottom of that inning and scored one run to chase C of I starter Joshua Orr with one out and runners at first and third. Bobby Wassman came on in relief and got his 'Yotes out of the jam.
It was clear sailing for C of I the rest of the way and they added a run in both the sixth and eighth innings for good measure.
Firth and
Andrew Madsen each had a pair of hits for UBC as the T-Birds mustered only six in the loss. Also seeing time on the mound were relievers
Miles Verweel,
Tavis Bruce, and Dan Britton-Foster.
After sweeping C of I on the road early in the conference season, UBC is just 2-4 against the 'Yotes since April 23.
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