The Matchup
The UBC Thunderbirds (3-4, 8-12) travel down the west coast for a third straight conference road trip to face the Corban Warriors (3-1, 13-10) for a four game series starting Friday night in Keizer, Oregon.
It's the first trip to Volcanoes Stadium for the T-Birds since UBC swept a four-game set over the Warriors last season, outscoring Corban by a combined 21-7 margin.
The Warriors have had a solid start to this season, however, and appear to be one of the more improved squads in the conference, giving the 'Birds another strong early season test.
It's the final conference road series for the Thunderbirds ahead of the home opener later this month as UBC looks to get back above .500 against the NAIA West. Opening pitch Friday is set for 6:00 p.m. PT followed by a doubleheader Saturday starting at 11:00 a.m. PT. The series finale goes Sunday at 11:00 a.m. PT.
Last Action
UBC went 1-3 last weekend against the number one ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors. After dropping the series opener, the 'Birds split a doubleheader on Saturday. The T-Birds were in good shape late in the finale on Sunday afternoon but a controversial call ended the game in LC's favour as UBC lost 7-6.
Corban started conference play two weeks ago going 3-1 at home to the Oregon Tech Owls. Last weekend the Warriors went 2-1 against Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.
By the Numbers
.262 – UBC's pitching staff has held the opposition to a .262 batting average, second only to Corban in the NAIA West allowing just 8.45 hits per game, also second lowest.
7.80 – The average number of batters struck out by UBC pitchers per game. The 'Birds struck out 16 batters against the College of Idaho on Feburary 25
th, the highest total so far this season of any team in the conference.
Players to Watch
Adam McKillican (#33, RHP) – The second-year thrower has earned wins in each of his last two games allowing just one run and six hits through 10.1 innings in conference play. The 6'5" righty from Courtenay has a 4.29 ERA overall and has held opposition batters to just .220.
Justin Orton (#24, 2B) – After getting into just eight games last season due to injury, the veteran second baseman's return has been a boost to UBC's offence thanks to his .302 batting average and team-leading .429 on base percentage.
Coach's Take
It's been a road dominated start to the season for the Thunderbirds, but as far as head coach
Chris Pritchett is concerned, there's nothing wrong with that.
"Teams bond on the road so these guys have had a lot of time to be on the bus and at hotels and I think that's a good thing early in the year," said Pritchett prior to departing for Oregon to face a Warriors team he sees as much improved. "I'm guessing they'll have the best starting pitching we'll see in conference this year so it's a big weekend for us."
Starting pitching has been strength so far for the 'Birds and the bats have been big at times as well. Now Pritchett is looking to get all of that together at the same time.
"A majority of the time we've been swinging the bat well enough in order to win games and for the most part have been defending well enough but it just seems like there's that time where we make a mistake here or there," said the third-year head coach. "We're looking to clean that up and that's partly practice. We've had a good week and pitchers are working their tails off too. We've got a long way to go, we're not in any kind of playoff form yet but we're getting close and there are areas where we're really happy with the progress."
