March 1, 2025

By Ian French

UBC Communications

Vancouver, B.C – The UBC Thunderbirds split the day's doubleheader against the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors, narrowly falling 2-1 in a game one pitcher's duel, while game two saw a flip of the low scoring-script with a bloated score of 20-10 in favour of the 'Birds.

"The Warriors are not going to beat themselves. We have to beat them. We have to make plays when it matters and just keep grinding", reflected UBC head coach Chris Pritchett. "Either team never feels like they're out of it. You have to take that mentality, and play every pitch, every out, and we can grow from this."

Game 1:

UBC's second-year starter Will Anderson (Delta, B.C.) began with a three-up, three-down first inning, while Lewis-Clark's Jadon Williamson followed suit, being just as efficient in the bottom half. The game continued to follow this pattern, and aside from UBC's two singles sprinkled throughout, Anderson — who is coming off a Cascade Conference Pitcher of the Week win — was staring down a bid at a no-hitter going into the latter third of the game.

Despite already having six innings under his belt, Anderson looked fresh to start the seventh. After tossing back-to-back strikeouts to begin the frame, Warriors' Dominic Signorelli stepped up and swatted a high looper into shallow centre. UBC centrefielder Jackson Boomer (Vancouver, B.C.) was moving at full speed before laying out in superman-like fashion to snag the smooth sliding catch, ending the threat and keeping the no-hitter alive.

Despite getting their third hit in the bottom half of the seventh, the game flipped on its head in the eighth inning. Anderson, entering the frame with a 76-pitch count, took to the mound once more but this time, conceded a single into left field. Two outs later, along with another runner on base to load up the corners, Anderson's night was done. With one out to go, Warriors catcher Jack Sheward came up clutch by knocking one to the wall in left field, over a leaping fielder's outstretched glove for an RBI double, opening the game's scoring late with a 1-0 lead.

The bottom half of the frame saw the top of the Thunderbird order come up to the plate. With two outs already gone, T-Bird captain Trent Lenihan (White Rock, B.C.) squared up in the box and delivered a deep solo shot to left centre for the game-tying home run.

The tie was short-lived as, in the top of the ninth, the Warriors looked to keep applying pressure. Following back-to-back ground outs to start the frame, a walk put a runner on first base. Shortly after, a passed ball made its way to the back stop, giving the Warriors' runner time to make his way to second. Now in scoring position, Lewis-Clark's Jakob Marquez looked to take advantage at the plate — and did just that. Marquez smacked the ball into shallow centre field for a single, sending the runner home from second to re-take his team's late one-run lead.

Down to their final three outs, UBC was halted by Warriors reliever Kolby Solomon as he finished this game the same way it started, with a three-up, three-down inning, walking away with the 2-1 victory.

Both starting pitchers each conceded only one hit on the day. Lewis-Clarke's Williamson earned the win while registering four strikeouts over five innings of work. While UBC's Anderson closed out the day with eight strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings.

"It was outstanding," mused Pritchett while reflecting on Anderson's performance. "He had three pitches working. The pace, and he was just fearless, going after some really good hitters. It was really impressive. That's one of the better outings I've seen here."

Game 2:

Following the day's earlier low-scoring affair, both teams looked to deal damage early in this one.

Starting in the top of the first, the Warriors compiled four runs on five hits, two of which were doubles, to take the commanding lead. However, as UBC has done often to start this season, they responded by throwing punches of their own in the bottom half.

Following a lead off hit by pitch, Jonny McGill (Richmond, B.C.) made his way to the box and quickly imprinted his name on this game with a two-run blast. Lenihan followed with a double, while Kyle Anderson (Burnaby, B.C.) and David Draayers (Abbotsford, B.C.) later added singles to even the game back up at four. A throwing error garnered one more run across the plate for UBC, earning them their first lead of the day.

After a quiet second stanza for both sides, UBC piled on in the bottom of the third. Kaden Zarowny (Strathmore, Alta.) kicked it off with a deep, solo shot to left centre. Just a few batters later, still with zero outs but with the bases loaded, first-year infielder David Krahn (Langley, B.C.) stepped up and demolished one over the left field fence for the grand slam. The 'Birds managed to tack on four more runs in the frame, capping off a 14 unanswered-run streak for UBC, leading 14-4.

Despite looking up a mountain of a deficit, the Warriors were not looking to roll over. Lewis-Clark's Charlie Updegrave led off the fifth with a no-doubt, solo shot to right centre. Some timely hitting led to two more runs for the Warriors before the end of the frame.

Now in the seventh, and still trailing 14-6, Lewis-Clark had already garnered two base runners as Abe Affholter made his way to the batter's box. With two outs, Affholter blasted a three-run home run to deep left centre, shrinking the deficit to just four runs. However, UBC looked to squash any hope of a comeback in the following inning.

The bottom of the seventh began with a bang for the Thundebirds. First-year Stephen Waters (Toronto, Ont.) drilled a leadoff home run to left centre field, while Zarowny followed with a deep shot of his own, tucking it in just inside the left field foul pole. The 'Birds continued to bat around, totalling five more hits, three of which were doubles, to post six more runs on the board for the 20-10 advantage, which is where the game would finish as this marked the 10-run mercy rule.

The UBC Thunderbirds will return to Tourmaline West Stadium on Sunday to face off against the Lewis-Clark State Warriors for their final matchup of the four-game-weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. P.T.