John Whaley scored the game-winning run for UBC on Friday afternoon
VANCOUVER – It would be hard to imagine this incarnation of the UBC Thunderbirds baseball team doing it any other way. Head coach Chris Pritchett's charges have been grinding out victories all season with great pitching and opportunistic hitting. On Friday afternoon, they added heart-pumping drama to the recipe.
With two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning against the third-seeded College of Idaho Coyotes, Thunderbird Tyler Enns punched a walk-off RBI single through the left side of the infield. John Whaley scored on the play, giving No. 2 seed UBC (38-18) a 4-3 victory, as a sea of 'Blue and Gold' charged from the dugout to drown Enns in water and Gatorade.
The win was UBC's first at the
NAIA West Grouping Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, and means they will play again Saturday at 1 p.m. for a spot in the final.
College of Idaho (35-19) will play Marymount on Saturday at 10 a.m. The losing team will be eliminated from the tournament.
It was a nail biter almost the whole way for 'Birds baseball fans. Connor Noble got the start for UBC and gave up three runs on three hits in the first inning, with the big one being a two-run triple by 'Yotes center fielder Dalton Ridgeway to make it 3-0. Designated hitter Cole Mansanarez opened the scoring earlier by driving a two-out single to center field to plate Mitch Skaggs.
But Noble shut the door after that, and as it's happened so often this year, the T-Birds chipped away until they were in a position to write a winning story.
In the eighth inning, UBC turned an error by 'Yotes star shortstop Hunter Hanson into two unearned runs scored by Anthony Olson and Lucas Soper. This tied the game at three and set up Enns' game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th. Enns finished the game with three hits in four plate appearances.
Hanson led College of Idaho with three hits, while starting pitcher Zach Draper gave up three runs – just one earned – in 7.2 innings of work. He also struck out eight UBC batters.
The NAIA West Grouping Championships, sponsored by U.S. Bank, goes all this weekend at Thunderbird Park.