VANCOUVER – The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds suffered their first loss of the 2025 Cascade Collegiate Conference Baseball Tournament, a 5-3 decision against Lewis-Clark State Saturday afternoon at Tourmaline West Stadium.

On the strength of three home runs in the first three innings, the Warriors advanced to the championship final while the Thunderbirds now face their first elimination game Sunday morning against either Oregon Tech or the College of Idaho.

After the Warriors staked out a 4-0 lead through three innings, the T-Birds managed to hold LC State to just a single run in the final six frames. But a tremendous start on the mound by Jantzen Lucas frustrated UBC's batters.

The 'Birds didn't manage their first hit of the game until the fourth when Jonny McGill hit a one-out single. Trent Lenihan followed with a base hit of his own and Kyle Yip drove in the T-Birds' first run of the day when he lined one up the middle. That run was Lucas' only score allowed on the day as he retired after seven complete innings with seven strikeouts while limiting UBC to five hits.



"I got to give Jantzen credit, that's twice in a row that he's held us to one or two runs," said UBC head coach, Chris Pritchett. "He was mixing speeds and that's tough at this level when you're throwing that many different pitches for strikes. Give him credit, we tried to come back late but we just couldn't get it done."

Ryan Heppner went three-up, three-down to start on the mound for UBC but LC's leadoff batter in the second, Jakob Marquez, took the junior righty deep to centre with a solo home run to open scoring. Heppner retired his next two batters and then ended the inning by striking out Izzy Madraiga.

The Warriors expanded their lead to 3-0 in the top of the third when Jack Sheward hammered the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for a two run homer. LC State's next batter, Charlie Updegrave, also went deep before Heppner retired the next two, keeping the score 4-0 Warriors heading to the bottom half.

Yip cut the lead to three with his RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, but the Warriors got the run back in the top of the sixth when Noah Weintraub doubled to left, scoring Brandon Cabrera who earlier had stolen second.



Adam Khan entered in relief to start the seventh for UBC and kept the Warriors off the board the rest of the way. Allowing just one hit and a walk, the senior gave the 'Birds a chance at mounting a comeback with one of his best pitching performances of the season.

"(Heppner) got behind on a couple counts, they dumped a couple fastballs on him but he settled down and gave us a chance to come back," said Pritchett. "And I thought Adam Khan did a great job with three zeros at the end against a really good hitting team. He stepped up and we needed it. That's all we can ask of our bullpen, give us a chance to come back. Countless times this year when we've got that kind of relief pitching we've been able to come back and win games but today we just couldn't get it done."

The 'Birds did make things interesting in the eighth when Lenihan doubled scoring both McGill and Aidan Rose. But LC closer Zachary Ediger made quick work of UBC in the ninth, preserving the win to keep the Warriors undefeated while punching their ticket to Sunday's final.

As for UBC, they now await their next opponent, the winner of Saturday's late matchup between the Yotes and the Owls. Sunday's game will serve as the T-Birds' first elimination contest of the tournament, the winner advancing both to face LC in the final while also earning a berth at the upcoming NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.

"We've got a game to win tomorrow morning to guarantee we get into the post-season, that's going to be a really good team so I'm not worried about Lewis-Clark State right now. We're trying to play our best game tomorrow and have a chance to move on. But, when you play those guys and when you play OIT you better bring every part of your game or you're not going to win. That's what's fun about the conference, but it's also tough."

First pitch for UBC's must-win game Sunday is set for 11:00 a.m. at Tourmaline West Stadium. Tickets are available online while the game will also be live streamed.