VANCOUVER — UBC ace
Niall Windeler tied a single-game team record with 15 strikeouts, leading the Thunderbirds to an NAIA season opening 11-5 win over the Lewis-Clark State Warriors Friday night at Tourmaline West Stadium.
Windeler finished the day allowing just two hits with four earned runs and three walks to go along with his 15 strikeouts and had a no-hit bid going into the eighth inning.
Sophomore
Jaxon Valcke was 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBI while senior catcher
Zach Prisciak drove in four runs including a three-run homer, the first of his collegiate career, in the bottom of the fifth.
"They're a good team so we knew we had to put our foot on them early and I thought we did," said Windeler, who saw UBC put up double-digit runs against LC for the first time in two seasons. "I thought every single at bat was a battle. We scored the dirty runs with some walks and then a big home run and boom, it was an 11-0 game."
Windeler entered the mound on fire, striking out five of his first six batters with just 21 pitches through two innings.
Rookie first baseman
Ty Penner became the 'Birds' first base runner with a leadoff single in the bottom of the second. The Lethbridge native later scored his first run in conference play after Prisciak was hit by a pitch.
LC starting pitcher Lalo Porras had a rough inning as the 'Birds took a 4-0 lead on just a single hit with two hit batters and two walks.
Meanwhile, Windeler kept dealing, racking up nine strikeouts through four innings throwing just 40 pitches, 32 of them strikes.
Penner earned his second single of the game in the bottom of the fifth before stealing his first base of the season. Junior outfielder
Austen Butler walked, ending Porras' day while Andrew Najeeb-Brush entered in relief. Porras went four and a third innings allowing three hits, walking three batters, and striking out eight.
Najeeb-Brush got his first batter to fly out, bringing Prisciak to the plate. The catcher liked the first pitch he saw and launched it over the left field wall for the three-run home run, the first of the T-Birds' season, to give the home side a commanding 7-0 lead.
Up 8-0 in the top of the seventh, Windeler kept his no-hitter bid alive with another three-up, three-down inning that included two more strikeouts to tie the team record set by Jeff Francis back in 2002 against Azusa Pacific.
"Prisciak was putting down the calls and I was just making the pitches one pitch at a time and the boys got some runs for me so it all worked out," said Windeler who feels honoured to be alongside Francis in the team record book. "He's an absolute legend, just to be in the same sentence as him just makes you take a step back."
Greg Blackman came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh for the Warriors but UBC added three more runs including a Valcke line drive to right that scored
Mike Fitzsimmons from second.
The Warriors broke Windeler's no hit bid in the top of the eighth when Kody Garvin singled to right. AJ Davis followed up with an RBI single to get the visitors on the board.
Barry Caine came in to relieve Windeler but LC scored another 4 runs to close UBC's lead to six.
After the 'Birds were held off the board in the bottom of the eighth, the Warriors loaded the bases in the ninth with two outs but Caine got pinch hitter Isaac Wersland to strike out looking on a full count to end the game.
The T-Birds out-hit the Warriors 8-4 while LC committed an uncharacteristic four errors while UBC won their home opener for a sixth straight season.
The four-game series continues Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. PT with the finale scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m. PT.
Tickets are available online through Ticketmaster or at the gate.
