LEWISTON, Idaho – A UBC comeback attempt fell a bit short as they dropped their first conference game of the season 9-6 to the No. 19 Lewis-Clark State Warriors Friday afternoon at Harris Field.

Down 8-2 through six innings, senior outfielder Austen Butler crushed a three-run homer in the top of the seventh to get UBC to within three runs, but the Warriors allowed just two more T-Bird hits the rest of the way as they held on to strike first in the opening series of the NAIA West conference season.

Jack Johnson managed two home runs in his Harris Field debut as LC State collected 11 hits in the first game of the four-game set while Eric Chavarria got the team off to a great start with another strong performance on the mound picking up the win.

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T-Birds fall to the 19th ranked Warriors in our first conference game ?? ? @austenbutlerr 1-2/3-run HR @ty_penner 2-3/1 RBI/1 BB @mike_fitzsimmons 2-4/1 R/1 RBI ? UBC looks to bounce back tomorrow with our doubleheader starting at 12:00pm #GoBirdsGo

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Chavarria was solid through his first two innings of work, striking out two and inducing a double play.

The Warriors put the game's first run on the board in the home half of the second. Luke White singled and moved to second on a walk to Dalton Harum before scoring on an error.

UBC evened the score in the top of the third with a Jake Lanferman RBI single, but Johnson answered back in a big way in the Warrior's half. Aidan Nagle singled before Johnson stepped to the plate with two outs and launched a big fly to deep centre to put LC State up 3-1.

On a 2-1 count, with two on in the fifth, the Warriors' third basemen sent a deep drive over the wall in left centre to grow the advantage to 6-1.



Luke Tedrick took over on the mound for the Warriors in the top of the seventh and gave up Butler's home run but got himself out of the inning without any further damage.

Greg Blackman relieved Tedrick with no outs and runners on the corners in the top of the eighth and struck out the first batter he faced. Mike Fitzsimmons did make it home on a fielder's choice to get UBC within two but the Warriors restored their three-run lead in the bottom half.

Garrett Hawkins suffered his first loss of the season allowing five earned runs on eight hits while striking out nine. UBC out-hit LC 12-11.

The T-Birds and Warriors continue their conference opening series Saturday with a double header starting at 12:00 p.m. PT.