LEWISTON, Ida. – It was not to be on Sunday for the UBC Thunderbirds (25-11, 19-6) as they fell in the final game of the weekend against the Lewis-Clark State Warriors (29-4, 21-4), losing a conference series for the first time this year.
 
Despite out-hitting the Warriors 11-10, the 'Birds were only able to muster up three runs compared to nine for the hosts. The combination of a three UBC errors and seven walks drawn by Lewis-Clark State helped tilt the scales in the Warriors' favour, and the T-Birds were left to rue some missed opportunities as they left eight runners on the base in the game, four of them in scoring position.
 
While the Thunderbirds got a player to second base in each of the first three innings, they were unable to score until the top of the fourth, at which point it was 3-0 for Lewis-Clark State. The T-Birds' opening marker came from some heads-up baserunning by Kyle Yip, as after a leadoff single he took second on a wild pitch, third on a ground out and then came home in the wake of another wild pitch from Warriors' reliever Tyler Logan.
 
Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, things came somewhat undone in the bottom half of that inning, when the Warriors had the bases loaded with two outs. At that point, Bryce Johnson hit a bouncing ball to short that was miscontrolled by the UBC infield, allowing two runs to score.
 
With their lead doubled, the Warriors were able to enjoy a little bit of breathing room, which was extended further in the seventh when Kooper Jones hit a two-run single.


 
Needing a big rally, the Thunderbirds looked like they might be able to start one in the eighth, when a Josh Cote single was followed by a Yip RBI double and then an RBI single from Braeden Scott to make it 7-3 with no outs on the board. But that was as close as UBC would get, as back-to-back outs were followed by Scott getting gunned down at home by Warriors left-fielder Brandon Nguyen off a hard-hit single by Calvin Warrillow.
 
The Warriors were able to tack on two final runs in the bottom half of the eighth, and they now hold first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings – boasting a two-game lead over the Thunderbirds with 12 more to go before the postseason.
 
There's not too much time for the Thunderbirds to dwell on this result, as they're back in action on Tuesday, April 7, on the road against NCAA Division I side Seattle University (8-19, 4-5) in a nonconference matchup. Then, they'll be back at home against the College of Idaho Yotes (23-13, 14-11) for a four-game series from Friday, April 10 through Sunday, April 12.