VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds got off to a winning start in the Santa Clarita Bracket of the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round on Tuesday, defeating the second-seeded Northwestern Ohio Racers by a score of 4-2 in the first game for both squads at the event.
 
The victory puts third seed UBC (39-17) into a semifinal matchup against fourth-seeded Vanguard (Calif.), which will take place on Wednesday at 12 noon on Reese Field in Santa Clarita, Calif.
 
Designated hitter Jerod Bartnik (Surrey, B.C.) went 2-for-4 at the plate on Tuesday, including a two-run home run, his 10th this year, that opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning.

"I thought Alex Webb set the tone today," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig. "A bit of a surprise start but he handled the stage just fine. Jerod Bartnik's home run tilted the game in our favour. That's what he can do, he can change the game with one swing of the bat. A couple of nice defensive plays in the outfield also at big times. A very complete effort."
 
With one out in the third, left fielder Tyler Enns (Winnipeg) got hit by a pitch to get on base. Then Bartnik stepped up to knock the next pitch over the right field fence to make it 2-0 for UBC.
 
It is the second straight year Bartnik has hit a home run in the first UBC game of the Opening Round. On May 12, 2014, his round-tripper, which also went to right field, was the only offence in a 1-0 Thunderbirds win over Vanguard.
 
On Tuesday, the game remained 2-0 until the seventh, thanks to the strong pitching of UBC starter Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.).
 
Northwestern Ohio finally got a run in the seventh on a James Cardona single that plated Austin Lenhardt, but Cardona was thrown out at second by T-Bird right fielder Griff Goyer (Burnaby, B.C.) for the second out of the inning. Webb then induced a groundout from the next Racers batter.
 
The Thunderbirds responded right away with another pair of runs in the home half of the inning.
 
Enns earned a two-out walk to start the rally and knock Racers' starter Ryan Petrangelo out of the game. With reliever Ryan Carter now on the mound, Bartnik hit a bloop single into centre. Northwestern Ohio's Kyle Fisher misplayed the ball and the error allowed Enns to score and Bartnik to end up on second.
 
The next batter, first baseman Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.), followed up with a line drive single right up the middle to score Bartnik and put the T-Birds up 4-1.
 
Closer Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) threw the last two innings, giving up a run, to earn his 12th save of the season. Webb, the NAIA West Pitcher of the Year, got the win to improve to 10-3. He finished the day with just one run and four hits against in seven complete innings.
 
The winner of Wednesday's UBC-Vanguard semifinal will advance to the championship final, and will need just one more victory to win the bracket and make the Avista-NAIA World Series. The loser will not be able to afford any more losses in the double-elimination tournament, and will need to win twice on Thursday to get to the World Series.