VANCOUVER – After a fantastic regular season for the UBC Thunderbirds (34-15, 29-8), the road to the Cascade Conference Championship will go through Vancouver. The five top teams in the CCC will do battle in a double-elimination tournament at Tourmaline West Stadium beginning on Friday, May 2nd.
The format of the tournament is such that every team is guaranteed at least two games, and you aren't eliminated until you take two losses. There are eight games scheduled between Friday and Sunday, with the potential for a final, deciding game on Monday if it's necessary.
The T-Birds enter as the top seed in the tournament, and are the lone CCC squad ranked in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25, sitting at No. 24. This is the first time since 2010 that the Thunderbirds are regular season conference champs, and the first time since 2017 that there will be postseason games played in Vancouver.
"There's definitely a familiarity here, and I think our guys are comfortable and excited to play in front of the home fans," said Thunderbirds head coach
Chris Pritchett. "Normally in these tournaments, you have one team that's a favourite and then one team that might surprise, but that's just not the case this year. Anyone can beat anyone and it's going to be a lot of fun."
To Pritchett's point, this year's tournament features a highly competitive quintet of teams. Besides the T-Birds the rest of the field is as follows: the Lewis-Clark State Warriors (31-14, 28-9), who split both of their series against UBC this season, the Oregon Tech Owls (36-12, 27-10), who have won 16 of their last 17 games, the defending CCC champion Bushnell Beacons (32-18, 22-15), and the College of Idaho Yotes (24-26, 14-23), who beat the 'Birds twice at Tourmaline West Stadium in their four-game series four weeks ago.
The T-Birds are aiming for their second CCC championship in three years, after winning it for the first time in 2023. They're also hoping to make it four straight years of qualifying for the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round.
"The goal for every team when they start the season is to get to the College World Series," remarked Pritchett. "We know that this tournament is how you get there, so we know we need to win this tournament to realize more of the goals we've set for ourselves."
Being able to host the conference championship is a nice milestone for this veteran-laden UBC squad, which features a number of players competing in their final postseason for the blue and gold. Eight of the 15 players that saw action in the winner-take-all regular season finale against Lewis-Clark State last Sunday are fourth-years, and six of the top seven in total hits this year (
Jonny McGill,
Aaron Marsh,
Trent Lenihan,
Mitchell Middlemiss,
David Draayers and
Russell Young) are in their final season.
Their quest to end their UBC careers on a high will begin at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday. The 'Birds will first play either Bushnell or College of Idaho, depending on who wins the tournament-opening matchup between those two teams earlier in the day. The Thunderbirds will then play again at either 2:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, depending on the result of their first game.
Two of the five teams will be eliminated following Saturday's action, with the other three each playing at least once on Sunday. If there are still two teams with just one loss apiece following Sunday's doubleheader then there will be a final game played on Monday.
CLICK HERE for tickets to each day of the tournament. For all live scores and schedule updates check out the
Cascade Collegiate Conference website.
