VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds completed a four-game sweep of the Simpson Redhawks with 12-7 and 9-0 wins on Saturday at Thunderbird Park to earn hosting rights for the NAIA West Playoff Tournament starting on May 2.
 
The T-Birds had three shutouts in their series with the Redhawks, with the one slip-up being the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, when the visitors managed to break out for seven runs on 13 hits to make it interesting after UBC posted an eight-spot in the second inning. But the 'Birds kept adding to the lead throughout the game to take care of business and guarantee that home field advantage by finishing the regular season at 29-11 overall and 20-8 in the conference.
 
"It's kind of a tough time of year with guys being in their final exams, so they're up studying late at night and dealing with the stresses of that, so you're not always going to see the most focused group at this time of year, and it was good to get the four wins we needed," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig. "Now we have a few extra days to take care of exams and we have 11 or 12 days to get ramping up for the playoffs."
 
UBC has an exhibition game scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 in Kelowna against Okanagan College, and other than that, they are off until the NAIA West Tournament which they will host May 2-5. McKaig is hoping the 36 runs and three shutouts UBC put up in this series will put the squad in the right frame of mind for postseason success.
 
"Bottom line is that you want that confidence from having a good weekend. The last two weekends on the road we hadn't swung the bats very well, so this was good for that confidence," said McKaig. "During the break, that's where it's up to us as coaches to create some competitive environments between now and the tournament, in practices and we have the exhibition game on Wednesday."
 
Bruce Yari led UBC with a 10-hit weekend, adding six RBIs. Kevin Biro had eight hits and eight RBIs. But those are just two of many examples of red-hot hitting for UBC this weekend, as the 'Birds racked up a total of 57 hits in the series. 
 
On the mound, the pitching staff shut Simpson out in 29 of 32 innings in the series. Game four was shortened to five innings due to heavy rain.
 
"We're going to need a lot of our guys firing with the bats come playoff time, so I thought it was a good weekend offensively and for the most part on the mound as well, outside that third game of the series, so that puts us in good shape," said McKaig.
 
Tyler Enns also had a great series, going 6-for-12 in three games with three RBIs. Bryan Arthur was also 6-for-12 with four RBIs.
 
Jeremy Newton had the start in game one, going three innings and giving up four earned runs on five hits, with two strikeouts. Alex Webb was credited with the win, going four innings of relief and allowing two runs on five hits, with three strikeouts. Curtis Taylor pitched two spotless innings to close things out.
 
Bryan Pawlina earned the complete-game shutout in a shortened Game 2. He went all five innings and allowed just five hits and a walk, with one strikeout. He improves to 4-1 on the season.
 
UBC was 11-1 at home in conference play this season and 13-1 overall. They will look to continue that trend when the conference's best teams make the trip up to Vancouver for the NAIA West Tournament, which runs from Friday, May 2 through Monday, May 5 at Thunderbird Park.
 
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