Winners of five straight, the red hot UBC Thunderbirds (9-3, 14-11) head back on the road to face the College of Idaho 'Yotes (7-5, 13-18) for a four-game series starting Friday, March 22 in Caldwell, Idaho.
The 'Yotes are the only remaining NAIA West opponent the T-Birds have yet to play this season as UBC faces another strong test in what will be a meeting between the top two teams in the grouping.
Despite a rash of injuries and a very young roster, the T-Birds have impressed so far this season both on offence and in the field. UBC is averaging just shy of six runs per game in conference play, tops in the NAIA West. The 'Birds also boast a conference low 19 fielding errors overall while holding the opposition to just a .228 batting average, also best in the conference.
Opening pitch for the series is Friday at 3:00 p.m. PT. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 12:00 p.m. PT with the series finale scheduled for 11:00 a.m. PT. on Sunday, all at Caldwell's Wolfe Field.
Last Action
The T-Birds earned their first series sweep of the season taking all four games against the Oregon Tech Owls in Klamath Falls last weekend. UBC outscored the Warriors by a combined 33-15 margin including a 10-0
Niall Windeler complete game shutout.
After dropping three of four a week prior, the 'Yotes bounced back over the weekend with a series win over the Corban Warriors in Keizer, Oregon.
Players to Watch
Jordan Dray (#9, OF) – The second-year outfielder had seven hits and a .467 batting average with seven RBI against the Owls. Five of Dray's seven hits were for extra bases including a pair of home runs as the White Rock native was named the Cascade conference's Player of the Week.
Jaxon Valcke (#24, IF/OF) – The junior utility fielder also had seven hits last weekend along with six RBI including two home runs, all after returning from an injury suffered the weekend before. The St. Mary's, Ontario native leads the T-Birds with 19 RBI and a .566 slugging percentage.
Coach's Take
In addition to some hot bats and strong pitching performances, the T-Birds saw improved success running the bases last weekend which helped bring in additional, critical runs.
"We're trying to preach an aggressive mindset, we were able to take advantage jumping on opportunities and stealing extra bases," said UBC head coach
Chris Pritchett. "You're not going to drive all the runs in by hitting so you have to create a couple on your own and we were able to do that."
When it comes to base running, Pritchett believes there may be none better than the 'Yotes who also prove to consistently be a tough out, especially on their own field.
"They're going to be very gritty, I think they're excellent base runners and they'll do anything they can to take advantage of ways to score points," added Pritchett. "They're contending just like we are, trying to get into that top one or two spots so this type of series is big."
The T-Birds are currently leading the NAIA West but they can ill afford to ever take their foot off the gas with the 'Yotes just two games back and Corban three games behind, making for a big swing weekend in Idaho.
"This weekend will definitely let everyone know who's in the front or if we're all going to be bunched up. I like the way we're playing right now, we need to get a couple more guys healthy but we'll go down there and I think if we play similar to how we did last weekend I think we should be okay."
