VANCOUVER - The Thunderbirds wrap up the regular season with a four-game showdown against NAIA World Series hosts Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho this weekend.
LIVE STATS /
LIVE AUDIO
GAME TIMES
Friday, April 26
3 p.m. – UBC at No. 7 Lewis-Clark State (doubleheader)
Saturday, April 27
12 p.m. - UBC at No. 7 Lewis-Clark State
Sunday, April 28
11 a.m. - UBC at No. 7 Lewis-Clark State
UBC Thunderbirds (23-14 overall, 17-7 conference)
Last Week: W 15-12, W 3-1, L 12-11, W 13-3 at Oregon Tech
Last weekend was a wild one for the 'Birds against the Oregon Tech Owls. UBC scored double digits in three of the four games, and two games were decided in the ninth inning. That's what happens when you're up against a desperate team trying to claw its way into a playoff spot, but the 'Birds did well to win the series and put themselves in position to take the top seed for next week's NAIA West Tournament.
Andrew Firth has led the offence all season long, and he, like most of the lineup, had a big weekend against Oregon Tech to boost his already impressive numbers. He's hitting .416, which is good for third in the conference, and he's the team leader in RBIs (38), on-base percentage (.466) and runs scored (33, tied with leadoff man
Tyson Popoff). Firth is also aiming to set UBC's single-season batting average record, which is currently held by Mark Capone, who hit .390 in 2005.
Popoff and catcher
Greg Densem have been consistent fixtures in UBC's top three offensive leaders this year too, but the star of last weekend has to be
Jeremy Kral, who broke out with a pair of three-run bombs as part of his 10-RBI series. He boosted his average more than 30 points to .292 and now has 22 RBIs on the year, earning conference Player of the Week honours in the process.
And on the mound,
Sean Callegari was named the conference Pitcher of the Week for holding the Owls to no runs and two hits over seven innings of work, striking out nine and improving to 4-1 on the year. That was his third straight start of at least seven innings, and it brought his ERA down to 3.02, making him the fourth UBC pitcher with an ERA right on or below three. He averages more than eight strikeouts per nine innings, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is almost 4:1.
Lewis-Clark State Warriors (36-11 overall, 20-4 conference)
Last Week: W 9-6, W 13-12, L 4-2, L 2-1 at Western Oregon (non-conference)
The Warriors saw an eight-game winning streak snapped at Western Oregon in non-conference action last week, but they have to like the way things are shaping up heading into playoffs. As hosts of the NAIA World Series, the Warriors get a bye through the early playoff rounds, but their numbers prove they are the real deal.
In addition to having the top record among NAIA West teams, LC State leads the conference with a .326 team batting average (UBC is second at .311) and a 2.64 team ERA (Menlo is second at 2.84). Brady Steiger leads the conference with a mammoth .440 average and .547 on-base percentage. No other player in the conference has an on-base number above .498, but Steiger's affinity for getting walked, and especially for getting hit by the pitch, give him the advantage. He gets a free pass about one in every four at-bats, and he's been hit 14 times this year. No other player on the Warriors or UBC has been hit more than seven times.
Steiger can also hit for power, with five homers and a .654 slugging percentage to his credit. Cody Lavalli leads the Warriors in that department with eight homers and 46 RBIs, and he hits .394, so the line between power hitter and contact hitter is pretty blurry on this team. The whole lineup can do damage, with 10 different players batting at least .300, and most of them can play long-ball occasionally too, with five players swatting at least four homers already this year.
The Warriors have several pitchers with numbers good enough to call themselves the ace of most pitching staffs, but for this group, Garrett Wilson stands out above the rest. Apologies to Steve Thompson and his 1.98 ERA, with 45 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 59 innings of work, but Wilson is the man for LC State. His ERA is a nearly-invisible 0.87 in 51.2 innings. He's 6-0 on the year and averages more than seven innings per start.
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