UBC travels to Mississippi for NAIA National Championship opening round
UBC has arrived in Mississippi for the NAIA National Championship opening round. Photo: UBC Athletics
May 10, 2025
By Jake McGrail
UBC Communications
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The travel distance? Nearly 3,500 km.
The goal? A berth in the NAIA World Series for the first time since 2006.
The UBC Thunderbirds have certainly been close in recent years, as they've made it to the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round in six straight seasons and have been one of the final two teams remaining in their tournament in both 2022 and 2024.
Three current T-Birds – Ryan Beitel (Surrey, B.C.), Trent Lenihan (White Rock, B.C.) and Aidan Rose (Calgary, Alta.) – played in the final game of that 2022 tournament, and are part of the core of experienced, veteran players who aim to make that breakthrough in their final year of university ball.
"There are guys that have been here before which gives us some comfort, but every year is a new year," said Thunderbirds head coach Chris Pritchett. "There are butterflies when you get to this kind of thing for sure . . . it's not about doing anything extra, it's just really doing what you do well."
"When you have this many good teams there, there's always maybe a little ounce of luck involved, but it's also just not giving the other team extra outs and doing what we know we can do."
The 'Birds are now in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where they will face three other high-level squads in a double-elimination tournament between Monday, May 12, and Thursday, May 15. The winner of the tournament advances to the NAIA World Series as one of 10 teams who get the shot to win a national championship.
UBC is the third seed in the four-team tournament, after finishing the regular season ranked No. 24 in the NAIA. The top two seeds are the No. 10 William Carey Crusaders and the No. 11 Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles. Rounding out the field are the No. 18 IU Southeast Grenadiers, who are seeded behind the T-Birds as they went 0-2 in their conference tournament and needed an at-large bid to make it to this stage.
"During the year you see these teams and they're ranked, and you wonder how you compare, and we get to find out so we're looking forward to it," added Pritchett.
It's an interesting mix of teams, all nationally-ranked at the end of the regular season but all of them failing to win their conference tournaments despite (with the exception of IU Southeast) being the top seed in their respective conferences.
The Thunderbirds will first face off against Oklahoma Wesleyan on Monday. It's not a win-or-go-home situation, but a first game loss makes running the gauntlet to win the tournament a much more daunting prospect. The victor, meanwhile, becomes just one more win away from having two shots to take the tournament.
The Eagles are led by KCAC Player of the Year Ravaughn Morgan and KCAC Pitcher of the Year Evan Floor. Morgan boasts a .415 batting average with 14 home runs and 69 RBIs, while Floor posted a 13-1 record with a 3.52 ERA.
The 'Birds are led at the plate by Jonny McGill (Richmond, B.C.), who finished third in the Cascade Collegiate Conference in batting average (.406) and second in home runs (16). Lenihan had 15 homers of his own and ranked fourth in the conference in RBIs (60).
UBC as a team certainly showcased their offensive ability over the course of the season. The blue and gold had an incredible 23 games with 10+ runs scored, an over 50% increase compared to last year.
On the mound, Will Anderson (Delta, B.C.) was one of three pitchers named CCC co-Pitchers of the Year, after finishing second in the conference in ERA (2.87) and fifth in strikeouts (69). Anderson, Lenihan, McGill, Ryan Heppner (Point Roberts, Wash.) and Aaron Marsh (Nanaimo, B.C.) all earned First Team All-Conference nods while Lenihan also won a Gold Glove award for his performance at first base.
Pritchett, for his part, was named CCC Coach of the Year after previously being named NAIA West Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2019 (as a co-winner both times).
"We feel really lucky," said Pritchett on his team having the opportunity to keep their postseason run going. "We thought we had a pretty good season and hoped we would get this type of chance. We can't ask for anything more than this opportunity. The guys are really excited, the coaching staff is really excited, and we just gotta go do it."