VANCOUVER – Thursday marked the end of a special era for UBC baseball.
 
The Thunderbirds lost a heartbreaking elimination game at the Santa Clarita Bracket of the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round to the Northwestern Ohio Racers by a score of 2-1.
 
With the end of the season comes the end of Terry McKaig's reign as head coach of the Thunderbirds. The leader of the program since its rebirth 18 years ago, McKaig will now move into his new position of Director of UBC Baseball, after a career with 548 wins, 353 losses and one tie.
 
In his final game, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring with a run in the second inning but the Racers tallied two in the sixth to earn a berth in the bracket final against Vanguard (Calif.)
 
"A disappointing end to our season in a hard-fought game," commented McKaig. "The margin for error in these games is so small and we just couldn't get timely hits when we needed them. Although not reaching our goal of getting to the NAIA World Series, this team can be proud of its accomplishments: a conference title and a great win-loss record despite many off-the-field distractions we had to deal with."
 
Singles by centre fielder Bryan Arthur (Abbotsford, B.C.) and third baseman Anthony Cusati (Burnaby, B.C.) put two runners on base to start the second inning. Two outs later, centre fielder Tyler Enns (Winnipeg) hit a single to short that allowed Arthur to score from third.
 
The 1-0 lead held until the sixth inning, when an RBI double by James Cardona and a Rafael Lozada sacrifice fly brought in the two runs that proved enough for the Northwestern Ohio triumph.
 
UBC had a runner on third with two outs in the eighth, but a groundout ended the inning.
 
In what turned out to be his last game as a Thunderbird, starting pitcher Conor Lillis-White (Toronto) (9-4) gave up just two runs and five hits in a complete-game performance that also featured nine strikeouts.
 
Enns finished the day 3-for-5 at the plate and also had the team's lone RBI.
 
UBC ended the season with a 39-19 record, third-best in school history, as well as its fifth NAIA West Grouping Championship in seven years.

A number of players etched their names in the school's baseball history books during the 2014-15 campaign.

The 12 saves for closer Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) are the most for a Thunderbirds pitcher in a single year and his 1.02 earned-run average is the third-best in a single season in UBC history.

Starter Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.) tied for the fourth-most wins in a year with 10. Yari had the most putouts in a season with 522, a record he set on Thursday.

Jerod Bartnik's 10 home runs this year ranks him third on the all-time single-season list.

The team established a new mark for strikeouts in a season with 459.
 
"A special thank you to our seniors for their hard work, commitment, and leadership throughout their careers to our program," said McKaig of his team's seven seniors: Arthur, Bartnik, Lillis-White, Kevin Biro (Deep Bay, B.C.), Cam Firth (London, Ont.), Alex Graham (North Vancouver, B.C.) and Brody Hawkins (Delta, B.C.).
 
A bright future is in store for UBC baseball, which will have a new coach next season. In addition, a new, state-of-the-art indoor training centre will open on campus in September and a capital campaign for a new stadium will begin shortly.