For a fifth straight season, the No. 24 UBC Thunderbirds (30-7, 36-13) will compete for the Cascade Collegiate Conference title and for the third time in that span, and the second time in the last three years, the path to a banner takes place in Lewiston, Idaho.
Entering the weekend as the number two seed behind the host Lewis-Clark State Warriors, the T-Birds are set to face the third seeded College of Idaho Yotes (20-17, 29-19) to kick off the double elimination tournament on Friday, May 1 at 2:30 p.m.
Closing out the regular season with 11 wins in their final 12 games, the T-Birds came oh so close to finishing alone atop the conference standings which would have allowed them to host the championship for a second straight year. But a loss to Bushnell on Saturday combined with an LC sweep in their final series over Warner Pacific has the 'Birds back on the bus to Lewiston.
"We knew the path was tough to be able to finish it off and host, but it doesn't take away anything from what our team's done this season," said UBC head coach, Chris Pritchett, who guided the 'Birds to their first ever CCC title three seasons ago. "Obviously we would have loved to have won the conference outright and hosted, that's a lot of fun, but this is a lot to look forward to as well.
"LC is a place that we actually really enjoy playing at and we're comfortable there, I think that's a positive. When you get to a five-team tournament anything can happen and we're seeing a couple of the teams that are really playing their best ball, so it's going to be tough. I think the guys are excited, the coaching staff's excited so we just want to get going."
The T-Birds earned the season series sweep over the Yotes, taking all four games earlier in April at Tourmaline West Stadium by a combined 32-10 margin, the start of UBC's tremendous finish to the regular season. The blue and gold closed out the campaign as the conference leaders in hits (533) and RBI (378) along with a CCC-best 9.76 K/9 from their pitching staff.
While there's every reason for the 'Birds to be confident heading to Lewiston, they also know their path to a second Cascade title will be far from easy given the quality of opponents they'll face.
"When you get into this tournament, all those things have to be clicking," said Pritchett who maintains his team still hasn't shown their all-around best. "No matter who wins this thing or moves on, they're going to play good defence, they're going to pitch, they're going to hit and if any of those things don't show up, it makes it really tough. We're getting close, we still haven't put everything together in a three or four day weekend but I think we're expecting to play good baseball and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to compete against these teams."
The winner of the weekend not only gets to claim the conference crown but will earn an automatic qualifier into the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round. With LC State hosting one of the ten regional tournaments in mid-May, they'll receive a host berth meaning two conference teams have the opportunity to win their way into the NAIA post-season.
With the double elimination format, there is margin for error, but it's far from the ideal method to get into Sunday's conference final.
"Getting into the loser bracket makes things really, really difficult. We're playing at a neutral site and (the Yotes) have done really well this year, there's a lot of respect for coach Humberger and what they do there. We expect it to be a very competitive game and we're just excited to get going."
A win for UBC in their tournament opener would push the 'Birds into Saturday's late game between another undefeated team while a loss to College of Idaho would force them into a must-win battle against the loser of Friday's first matchup between Bushnell and Oregon Tech.
First pitch for the T-Birds' Cascade Collegiate College tournament opener is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday at Lewiston's Harris Field. The game – and the entire championship – will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
