VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds put up a strong fight against the number one seed Antelope Valley Pioneers, but fell 6-3 in the California Pacific Conference Championship final Tuesday afternoon in Mesa, Arizona.

Despite the loss, the 'Birds have still earned themselves a berth at the upcoming opening round of the NAIA World Series, the second straight year UBC has advanced to the big tournament and the fifth time in the last six seasons.
 

'Birds fall short in the @Cal_Pac championship final. Congratulations to @UAVPioneerBSB@jordan_dray9 2-4, 2 RBI, R, 3B@BrandonHupe 1-3, 2 R, 3B, BB

Thunderbirds advance to NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round starting May 13
??: @RichLamPhoto | #ubcbaseball pic.twitter.com/L9DjdOEcLg

— UBC Baseball (@ubc_baseball) May 7, 2019

Playing as the home team, the 'Birds opened scoring in the bottom of the second. After Brandon Hupe got on base thanks to a Pioneers' error, the freshman outfielder scored on a Jordan Dray RBI triple. Dray then scored himself on an Austen Butler ground out.

After back-to-back walks to start the top of the fourth, Antelope Valley got one run back on a Gerardo Castaneda sacrifice fly. The Pioneers threatened to tie the game or even go ahead with two runners in scoring position after a Cole Carder double, but UBC starting pitcher Barry Caine got Jacob Ogle to ground out to keep UBC in front.

Caine began the top of the sixth with his fifth strike out of the game, but the 'Birds soon got into some trouble following a Brayan Gomez double. Two hits and two errors later and the Pioneers soon had themselves a 4-2 lead.



UBC went to the bullpen bringing in Brett Corbeth with one down. The freshman sat down his first two batters to end the inning and keep the 'Birds in the elimination contest down by just two runs.

Dray got the T-Birds back within one in the bottom of the sixth with his second hit of the day, scoring Hupe from second.

Corbeth once again came through in the top of the seventh when he struck out Tyler Van Marter with two down and two runners in scoring position, holding UBC's deficit to the single run.

The Pioneers managed to put two more runs across in the top of the ninth bringing UBC to their final three outs, down by three.



With two out, Nolan Weger earned a walk to bring catcher Zach Prisciak to the plate. But Antelope Valley reliever Cameron Heinrich got him swinging as the Pioneers defeat the 'Birds in the conference championship final for the second straight year.

Caine was tagged with the loss despite a strong performance going five and a third innings allowing three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Antelope Valley's Donovan Bertoncini was credited with the win while Heinrich earned the nine-out save.

The 'Birds will now turn their focus to the opening round of the NAIA World Series which gets underway Monday, May 13^th.