VANCOUVER – The race for top spot in the Cascade Collegiate Conference has come down to the wire as the UBC Thunderbirds have the opportunity to secure their first ever regular season title with a series sweep of the Corban University Warriors this weekend at Tourmaline West Stadium.
Fresh off a split against the Oregon Tech Owls in Klamath Falls last weekend, the T-Birds (28-18, 13-7) hold fate in their own hands entering the final series of the regular season.
But as good as the 'Birds have been at home with a 9-3 record, taking four games off a desperate and vastly improved Corban (15-27, 9-11) team will be no easy feat.
"All you can ever ask for is to have control over your own destiny," said UBC head coach
Chris Pritchett who has won five in a row at home and nine of their last ten. "But I don't think anybody's thinking about winning four games all at once, I know that we're playing a really good Corban team that's improved, that's won a lot of games in the second half, they're still in this thing. There's a long way to go but the guys know they did enough on the weekend to come home and if they take care of business they can put ourselves in a good spot. But we have to win each game to get to that final spot so that's what we're focussed on."
After a bit of a rough start to 2023, the Warriors have gained stream throughout the season and head to Vancouver as winners of five of their last seven. While the T-Birds will be gunning for the top seed in the conference, Corban is battling to claim one of the four playoff berths, currently two games back of both the College of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State, and one behind Bushnell.
While the visitors will surely be leaving everything on the field in their attempt to play beyond this weekend, the 'Birds are a battle tested group and ready to embrace the challenge. UBC's resilience was on full display just last weekend in Klamath Falls when they rallied from a 12 run deficit in the seventh inning to force extras against the first place Owls.
"I think for our players they learned a lot about perseverance," Pritchett explained. "The one game where we came back, went ahead and then lost in extra innings, and then right away have to turn around and play the second game right after that and we were able to come away with the win and the split – I think that said a lot about their character."
Pitching may very well be a bigger factor than usual this weekend with three of the conference's top four starters – based on ERA – likely to be featured. UBC's
Ryan Heppner (3.57) and
Sean Heppner (3.69) rank third and fourth, respectively, while Corban's Nate Martin boasts the CCC's second lowest ERA at 3.01.
In addition to the critically important four games this weekend, the T-Birds will also be honouring their eight graduating seniors between games on Sunday.
Noah Or,
Mike Tersigni,
Brandon Hupe,
Mike Fitzsimmons,
Cameron Sanderson,
Brett Corbeth,
Brendan Logan and
Daniel Sereda are all playing in their final regular season series in the blue and gold.
"It's bittersweet from coaches. Obviously we want to say thank you to these guys for what they've done for our program, they're great kids that have taken everything to the next level. To watch their growth and the people they've become over the last four or five years, we've all been through so much together. It'll be emotional but we'll have to put that aside and get to work on Sunday, but it'll be fun."
First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader with the Warriors is set for 1:00 p.m. PT at Tourmaline West Stadium with Sunday's doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m.
