VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds baseball team will start its NAIA West conference campaign this week on the road, instead of at Thunderbird Park as originally scheduled.
Because of weather concerns, this weekend's four-game series against the NAIA No. 2 Lewis-Clark State Warriors will be played in Lewiston, Idaho. Friday's series opener will now be played at 6 p.m., followed by a doubleheader at noon on Saturday and the final game at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
The T-Birds are coming off a strong preseason run that saw them go 7-3 in non-conference play, winning their last four games, including a 2-0 win over the Warriors in Portland, Ore. last week. LC State enters conference play at 9-2 overall.
UBC has swung the bats well to start the season, but the pitching staff is the big story early on. The 'Birds lead all NAIA West teams with a 2.45 earned run average, and sophomore righty
Jeremy Newton already has a Red Lion NAIA West Pitcher of the Week award under his belt for his seven shutout innings against the No. 2 Warriors last week.
The Warriors were averaging over seven runs a game before Newton shut them down, and he didn't issue a single walk during his outing – a very good sign, considering the free passes are perhaps the only black mark on the pitching staff's resume so far. UBC pitchers are walking a batter every two innings, and the strikeout-to-walk ratio is only slightly better than 1:1. Through three starts, Newton has a 1.50 ERA in 18.0 innings
Conor Lillis-White has had a nice beginning to his season too, with two starts and two appearances out of the bullpen leading to 11.2 innings of shutout ball. He's also been UBC's top strikeout man, with 15 Ks already to his credit.
Sean Callegari is the only other T-Bird with multiple starts and at least 10 innings of work. He has a 3.26 ERA in 19.1 innings. And last year's breakout star reliever and NAIA West Pitcher of the Year,
Bryan Pawlina, is proving very tough to solve yet again with his 2.16 ERA and team-leading .172 opponent batting average.
Everyone who has thrown more than two innings for UBC this season has an ERA of 3.86 or better, giving head coach
Terry McKaig a lot of depth to work with as the season heats up with conference play beginning.
Things have been going quite nicely at the dish, too. UBC is second among NAIA West teams with a .295 batting average, and the squad is averaging about six runs per game.
Veteran outfielder
Tyler Enns is off to a hot start, hitting .429 with seven RBIs a .529 on base percentage. Fellow outfielder
Jerod Bartnik leads the club with two homers and four stolen bases in five attempts.
Shortstop
Tyson Popoff, who set a UBC record with his .401 average last season, is hitting .356 so far with eight RBIs. Freshman
Vinny Martin has started all but one game at first base so far, and he's leading the team with 12 RBIs.
The Warriors rank third in both team ERA and batting average, and they are first in the standings with their overall record of 9-2. As impressive as the record is, it represents a very small sample size of opponents, as the Warriors have played nine of their 11 games against just two teams – MSU-Billings and Western Oregon – which are both non-NAIA West schools.
LC State outhit UBC 11-7 in their 2-0 loss last week, so it's not as if the 'Birds controlled the game easily. Martin and Popoff had RBI singles in the first and second inning, respectively, to complete the scoring for the day. Two runs won't hold up against the second-ranked team in the entire NAIA very often, so UBC will need to be ready to grind out some tough at-bats against LC State's top starters and get into the bullpen early to maximize their offensive opportunities.
Mike Noteware and Gunnar Swanson have made three starts each, and both have demonstrated their big strikeout ability. Noteware has 16 strikeouts in 15 innings and a 1.80 ERA, while Swanson has 15 Ks in 17 innings and a 3.18 ERA. As a team, the Warriors strike out about eight batters per nine innings, so they can all miss bats when they need to.
Offensively, Kyle Knigge leads the way with a .400 average and .489 on base percentage. Ryan Sells provides the power, with three homers and a .571 slugging percentage. The Warriors are hitting .283 as a team.
-30-
