UBC Thunderbird Baseball Fan Page

This year's Region I season (the last one under the current playoff structure) starts February 29, with UBC at Corban, and Oregon Tech at College of Idaho. Lewis-Clark State is hosting Gonzaga, and Concordia-Portland plays home-and-home with Western Oregon.

Here's this year's obligatory predicted order of finish for NAIA Region I:

1. Lewis-Clark State: The defending national champions sent eight players to pro ball, but they should still be good enough to repeat as Region I champions. The Warriors' offensive star this year is Paul Martin, currently hitting .483. Their pitchers include Matt Fitts, who was drafted last year, but chose to spend another year in Lewiston, and Mike Guerrero. You can read L-C State's story here.

2. U. of British Columbia: The Warriors will win the pennant on consistency, but the Thunderbirds will improve over last year, and they should be looking pretty good by the time that first home game comes around on March 15. They already look good defensively. Mike Styrna, Scott Webster, Ryan Pilgrim, and Alex White are hitting the ball well. The Birds have some good returning pitchers, Andrew LaFleur, Greg Chong, Kurtis Schumacher, and some very good new ones, Ashton Florko, Josh Brink, and Taylor King. UBC Athletics preview

3. College of Idaho: Like last year, the Thunderbirds and the Coyotes should be a good matchup, but the Birds win out on pitching. Their offensive returnees include Dane McGrady and Luke Howarth. Their pitching staff includes two British Columbians, Andrew Brock (Burnaby), and Jason Barry (Castlegar), but their best guy is Joey Zubizarreta. Click here for their season preview.

4. Concordia-Portland: The Cavaliers had huge graduation losses, but once again, Coach Rob Vance has managed to recruit some good pitchers. This year, it's Ross Conway and Brett Hawley. They've also added a guy who can hit, Roberto Reyes of Monterrey, Mexico.

5. Corban: The Warriors have one of the youngest coaches in college baseball, alum Nate Mayben, and he did OK last year. They have RHP Jordan Emery back, and OF Jamie McGraw.

6. Oregon Tech: The Hustlin' Owls are 1-7 so far this season. I don't see this trend changing.

Bonus predictions: Whoever wins Region I has to get past the champion of the Golden State Athletic Conference (Region II) to get to the NAIA championship tournament in Lewiston, ID. The GSAC is a very competitive league. My choice is defending champion Azusa Pacific, but The Master's might make a run at it.

After the super-regional, there's several viable contenders for the national championship, including Lee, Azusa Pacific, Lewis-Clark State, and Lubbock Christian. I picked Oklahoma City in a column for The College Baseball Blog in December. With the Stars currently at 15-1, I'm sticking with that prediction. Look at it this way; Oklahoma City and Lubbock Christian are both in the same region, so only one of them can make it to the national championship tournament. The one that does should have the inside track.

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Rafael Garcia - Photo from La Prensa

Los Indios' winning run came in the fourth inning, when Clyde Williams (USA) reached base on a Texas League single, and was batted in by Manuel Mejía (Dominican Republic). They added three runs in the sixth on a double by catcher Marlon Abea. They added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth, one of them on an RBI by Jimmy González.

SF´s Darío Delgado (DR) was hit by pitches from Garcia twice. He drew a walk in the bottom of the ninth, and was moved to third on a double by Anibal Vega (Nicaragua), but he was still on third when the game ended.

Abea, who hit .545 during the series, was named Most Valuable Player.

Story from La Prensa (en Español)

Brian Rodaway

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San Fernando tied the best-of-seven national championship series at two games apiece with a dramatic bottom-of-the-ninth finish.

Roberto Clemente Stadium

The starters were Wilber Bucardo (Nicaragua) for Bóer, and Armando Hernández (from Masaya) for SF. Hernández had an excellent outing; he went 6 1/3 innings.

Bóer took the early lead with a sacrifice fly by Jorge Núñez (Dominican Republic) in the second inning. SF got on the board with a two-run home run by Marcos Sánchez (DR) in the fifth, and increased their lead with an RBI by Norman Cardoze (also from Masaya) in the sixth.

Bóer tied the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh, and that´s where it was going into the bottom of the ninth. Cardoze drew a walk, and Sánchez put down a good bunt. However, Bóer´s third baseman tried to go to second instead of first, and his throw was just a little bit late. The next batter, Eddy Talavera (Nicaragua) bunted, and the result was runners on second and third with one out. SF sent in a pinch hitter, Anibal Vega (Nicaragua), and he was intentionally walked to load the bases. The next batter, Víctor Gutiérrez (DR) hit a sacrifice fly to win the game. There was a good throw to the plate, however. I was sitting behind home plate, and I thought it got there in time. Predictably, so did Bóer´s players and coaches. Riot police were present.

(Replays on Nicaraguan TV showed that the runner was safe, and the umpire's call was correct.)

Story from La Prensa (en Espanol)

I treated myself to a Toña beer. It cost 18 cordobas, or one dollar.

Now for today´s constructive advice to the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League: I saw a kid selling cigarettes who couldn´t have been more than seven years old. (BAT, the company that sells Players and Du Maurier in Canada, has a major presence in Nicaragua, and their policy is, these kids are much more reliable than vending machines.) All of the major league teams banned smoking in their ballparks years ago. Do the same.

Fieras del San Fernando site

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The event happened at Dennis Martinez National Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua. This stadium holds 20,000 people, and about 18,000 were present for this game, which was the third game of the best-of-seven final of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League. Bóer won the first game, and San Fernando won the second.

Dennis Martinez National Stadium

In addition, large numbers of fans were blowing police whistles, and if you forgot to bring one, there were vendors selling them. There were also vendors selling all sorts of food, including a sort of taco salad (it's called "boha") that looked healthy. There is Toña beer, which I´ve already developed a taste for. You have to pay to use the washrooms, but I don´t know yet whether this results in cleanliness.

There was a ball game going on, too, and it would be a mistake to say that this is like European soccer matches, where much of the crowd is indifferent to what´s happening on the field. They saw a good game, although there were some fielding miscues in the early going. It appeared that the crowd noise was making it difficult for the players to communicate with each other, but the not-very-good lighting could also have been a factor.

Both starters were chased early. The SF starter was Willy Lebrón of the Dominican Republic, and he was gone before the second inning was over, after Bóer went up 2-0. The Bóer starter was Brian Rodaway, who played for the U. of Nebraska, then spent five years in the minors. Rodaway came in with very good numbers: 6-1, 2.14 ERA. He held Los Fieras hitless for the first two inning, but in the third inning, Los Fieros got five runs, with an RBI by Eddy Talavera (Granada), another by Ofilio Castro (Nicaragua), a two-RBI double by Danilo Sotelo (also from Nicaragua), and another by Darío Delgado (Dominican Republic).

Those were all the runs SF got. Bóer got a run back in the fourth, and tied it with two runs in the sixth. The winning run came in the eighth. Clyde Williams, who was in the Expos/Nationals organization for seven years, hit what should have been a double-play ball with one out. The throw to first was late, however, and this allowed a baserunner to score from third. SF got the tying run on first with one out, but a line drive by Jimmy Hurst to first resulted in a game-ending double play. (Hurst had a cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1997, also played in Japan and for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.)

Now, an editorial comment for anyone in Nicaragua who might read this: I´m OK with the pep bands and the cheerleaders, but lose the police whistles. They add nothing whatsoever to the enjoyment of the game, and they are irritating.

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Those of us who are passengers on the Thunderbird bandwagon had gotten used to the idea of extended post-season play, so it came as a shock when the result of the last two games of this season was two losses, nine hits, and only three runs scored. These two losses came against Jason Roach of Albertson and Bryan Goff of Concordia-Portland, who the Thunderbirds had trouble hitting all season.

The results would have been somewhat different had these two games been played in Vancouver instead of Caldwell, ID, keeping in mind that Roach was responsible for UBC's only loss at Nat Bailey Stadium this year. Now, why were these games played in Caldwell instead of Vancouver, when UBC finished two games ahead of Albertson during the regular season? That's a topic for some serious off-season discussion, and my well-considered opinion is that the NAIA's entire setup for qualification for the national tournament needs a drastic overhaul. For right now, though, the end-of-season Region I politics wouldn't have mattered if the Thunderbirds hadn't lost those two games at Oregon Tech.

Let's give that series in Klamath Falls some more scrutiny. The Hustlin' Owls didn't have much of a ball team this year. What they had, though, were several seniors who were playing the last college baseball games of their lives, and a coach who was a few days away from getting fired.

Next year, there will be other opposing players who make their best efforts against the Thunderbirds, and other opposing coaches with their jobs on the line. In response, five of the Thunderbirds' top six hitters, Nic Lendvoy, Fletcher Vynne, Sammie Starr, Craig Leebosh, and Jon Syrnyk, will probably be back next year. Of this group, Lendvoy and Starr will be sophomores. and Leebosh and Syrnyk will be juniors.

As for pitching, Doug Grant has finished an excellent career, and Brendan Rolfe, who was great this year, will be gone. Everyone else (Andrew LaFleur, Kurtis Schumacher, Scott Webster, and Greg Chong, to name four) will keep getting better, and Mark Hardy, who will be a sophomore, shows particular promise; all he has to do is pitch as well against everyone as he did against Lewis-Clark State. (Webster, who had two home runs, should also continue to improve at the plate.) The people who came out to see the Birds on a regular basis this year will tell you that this team improved with every passing week, and there's no reason why that shouldn't carry over into next season.

And that's not all: UBC had another great recruiting year, to go along with the one they had last year. Watch this space for more on this in the preview of the MLB draft which happens on June 7.

Now for a look at changes to the record book. Jon Syrnyk didn't just set a school record with eight triples; he tied a record for all of college baseball with three triples in a game. Matt Chester now holds the record for fielding percentage: 1.000. The 12 runs scored in an inning against Albertson is a record. Brett Murray had six saves, which ties him with Cory Stuart and Joey Benda. (I'm sure I've missed one or two here; just drop me a note and let me know.)

And now for the defining moment of the 2007 season. It came in the ninth inning of the first home game of the season, against Lewis-Clark State on March 20. None of the Birds' starters were available because this game was on a Tuesday, and they had pitched the previous weekend against Concordia. So, Mark Hardy started, and the game was pitched by a committee of Hardy, Greg Chong, Kurtis Schumacher, Andrew LaFleur, and Brett Murray. They held the Warriors to one earned run, and the Birds went into the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead. The Warriors tied it in the top of the eighth, but the Birds answered with a huge three-RBI double by Jon Syrnyk. The atmosphere in Nat Bailey Stadium turned electric: “We can win this thing”. In the top of the ninth, the Warriors get a couple of baserunners on an error and a walk. Are the wheels coming off? No, Beau Mills hit into a double play, and finishes 0-5. One out left. Jessie Mier hits an RBI single. Paul Martin hit a ground ball to Sammie Starr at second base. Starr looked a little shaky when he fielded it, but he managed to get the ball to Ted Wilkie covering second for the force. Game over. The Thunderbirds would eventually split the season series with L-C State with two games apiece. The only previous UBC team to do this well against the Warriors was the 2002 team with Jeff Francis and Brooks McNiven, who won the season series two games to one.

Some words about opponents: UC Riverside won the Big West Conference championship. Pacific Lutheran won the Northwest Conference championship. This was their first conference championship in baseball since 1954. They acquitted themselves well at the regional tournament; they won the first three games, including one over Chapman, but Chapman won two must-win games against the Lutes to win the tournament. George Fox got an at-large bid, but they went two-and-out.

Poll result: Defensively, the Thunderbirds are:

• Better than last year: 49 votes
• Not as good as last year: 46 votes
• About the same as last year: 14 votes

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All three of Syrnyk's triples were hit deep in center-right field. His performance ties an NAIA record, held by eight other players.

The Thunderbirds scored in every inning except the sixth. They did the most damage in the third; Syrnyk scored on a wild pitch, Fletcher Vynne batted in a run, then scored when he was walked in.

Jason Braun took the loss for the Warriors, who have been shut out in three straight Region I games.

Box score and play-by-play

Second game: This one would have been a lot closer had it not been for several excellent defensive plays by the Thunderbirds. In the first inning, Nic Lendvoy made a good catch of a foul ball in left field. In the fourth inning, Matt Chester, playing first base, made a great diving catch of a foul ball hit by Doug Gausepohl near the wall on the first base side. Then, Lendvoy made a good throw to catch a runner at the plate. In the seventh, Jeremy Frantz was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The Thunderbirds had double plays in the third and sixth innings. In the eighth, a double play was bungled when a toss by Sammie Starr at second base went astray. However, Ted Wilkie, Starr, and Chester completed a double play on the next batter.

The big inning this time was a five-run second. The first run was walked in when Lendvoy was hit by a pitch. The second one came in when Brett Murray reached on an error. Then, Fletcher Vynne cleared the bases with a double.

Brendan Rolfe got the start, went five innings, and gave up the only Warrior run. Mark Hardy pitched the sixth through eighth innings, and Kurtis Schumacher pitched the ninth. Hardy allowed only two hits. Scott Fitchett pitched a complete game in a losing cause.

Box score and play-by-play

Syrnyk and Vynne were both 5-7 for the day.

Story from UBC Athletics site: Syrnyk, Vynne big in wins

The winning runs were driven in by Jon Syrnyk with a grand slam double in the eighth inning. However, the big story here was the performance of the five Thunderird pitchers who combined for the win; Mark Hardy, Greg Chong, Kurtis Schumacher, Andrew LaFleur, and Brett Murray.

Hardy and Chong were especially sharp, holding the Warriors hitless for the first four innings. The "committee" did an especially good job on Warrior star Beau Mills. He was 0-5, hit into two double plays, and hit into a ground out with the bases loaded.

The Thunderbirds took the early lead with an RBI single by Brendan Kornberger in the first inning, and an RBI single by Craig Leebosh in the second. They had a scoring threat in the third cancelled when Sammie Starr, courtesy running for Kornberger, was picked off first base.

The Warriors got on the board in the sixth with an RBI single by Zach Evangelho. They tied it in the top of the eighth with an RBI single by Jesse Roehl. They got one more on the ninth on an RBI single by Jesse Mier.

Brett Murray got the first win of his career, which follows three saves over the last week and a half. Will Morgan, who had an ERA of 0.00 prior to today, got the loss for the Warriors.

Box score and play-by-play

Story from UBC Athletics site: T-Birds knock off top-ranked Warriors

Story from Lewis-Clark State site: LCSC baseball team falls 5-3 to UBC

Story from the Vancouver Sun: Home cooking for the 'Birds

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This year's Region I season starts March 2, with Corban at Albertson, and Oregon Tech at Concordia-Portland. Lewis-Clark State is hosting their annual Banana Belt Tournament, which has a field of Division I teams.

I'm one of those people known as “pundits”, and pundits are expected to make predictions. So, here's my obligatory predicted order of finish for NAIA Region I:

1. Lewis-Clark State: Sorry, Thunderbird fans, but I'm predicting that the Warriors will not only win Region I (which, with the NAIA's new qualification rules, excludes UBC from making a return visit to the national championship tournament), but they will repeat as NAIA national champions.

   Beau Mills, a transfer from Division I Fresno State, is currently hitting .500, and already has four home runs. He's expected to be a very high draft pick, so the good news is, he's only going to be at L-C State for one season.

   I could go on for a while here. They have several more players who can hit, and for pitching, they have Chris Kissock of Fruitvale, BC, Will Morgan, and Brian Parker. You can read L-C State's version here.

2. Concordia-Portland: The Cavaliers' record is only 1-4, but that includes two low-scoring losses to Division I U. of Portland, and another low-scoring loss to a good Division II Western Oregon team. The message here is simple: they will have trouble scoring runs, but with Jason Grisham, Bryan Goff, Kyle Corwin, and Ben Rue, they have starting pitchers who can get the job done, and good pitching generally beats good hitting. Offensively, the Cavaliers have James Mannion back from last year.

3. U. of British Columbia: Yes, we knew that a lot of players graduated last year. We didn't know that Shawn Schaefer and Joey Benda weren't coming back. Brendan Kornberger is back behind the plate, and playing very well. Nik Lendvoy, who had limited playing time last year, is hitting well. The Thunderbirds have a lot of good new guys, and Sammie Starr has been impressive in the early going. The only returning starter, Doug Grant, looks even better than last year. It's going to take a while for the rest of the pitching staff to develop, but returnees Andrew LaFleur and Brendan Rolfe have looked good so far.

4. Albertson: The Thunderbirds and the Coyotes should be a good matchup this year. They have a good crop of returnees, including starter Jason Roach, reliever Joey Zubizarreta, and infielders Casey Oliver and Dane McGrady.

5. Corban: The Warriors were pretty good toward the end of last season, but their coach moved on to Division I. They should have enough pitching, with Jordan Emery, Scott Fitchett, Zeke Clayton, and Brett Timmerman, to be competitive with UBC and Albertson. Like Albertson, they have a good crop of returnees, including Ryan Heil and Jeremy Frantz.

6. Oregon Tech: The Hustlin' Owls have only played three games so far, so I don't have much to go on. They managed to play two close games against Chico State, a very good Division II team. Their problem is, with Eastern Oregon out, and Lewis-Clark State in, the Hustlin' Owls are going to have an uphill struggle with UBC, Albertson, and Corban for that last playoff spot. Their top offensive returnee is Dan Mecum, and their top pitching returnee is Kyle Koontz. They have a new pitcher, Derek Jacobson, who acquitted himself well against Chico State.

Bonus prediction: Whoever wins Region I has to get past the champion of the Golden State Athletic Conference (Region II) to get to the NAIA championship tournament in Lewiston, ID. The GSAC is very competitive this year, and the teams that were strong last year, Concordia-Irvine, Biola, and Cal Baptist, aren't doing espcially well. One of the surprise teams is San Diego Christian, a brand-new but well-financed program. The other surprise team is Azusa Pacific, who paid a visit to Nat Bailey Stadium several years ago and handed Jeff Francis a no-decision. The Cougars are tied for the GSAC lead with Point Loma Nazarene, and they seem to be pretty close in ability, but I'm giving the nod to Azusa Pacific.

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Cory Stuart - Photo by Bob Broughton

A relief pitcher in real life, Stuart played left field and shortstop on this occasion. He got two hits, and made a couple of very good defensive plays at shortstop. UBC Assistant Coach Cavanagh Whitely said, “Somebody should call up George Steinbrenner and let him know that there's somebody in his organization that can hit.”

Stuart spent most of the 2006 season with the Class A Charleston Riverdogs, and was named to the South Atlantic League all-star team. His season with the Riverdogs was cut short when he was called upon to pitch for the Canadian Olympic Team in a qualifying tournament in Havana. He made three appearances in the tournament, one of them against the US.

Interviewed after his Alumni game action, Stuart said that the next round of Olympic qualifying for Canada would be sometime in March, in Taiwan. This is during spring training, but Stuart said that the Yankees organization has gotten better at letting players go for international competition like this. If Stuart is selected to play in Taiwan, he probably won't get a lot of advance notice. His performance in Havana probably had no effect on his standing in the Yankees organization. Although minor-league players get very little information about where they are likely to be playing next season, Stuart is hoping to be moved up to the “advanced A” team in Tampa.

Celebration after Chris Ames robbed major league star Jeff Francis of a hit

The other pro ball player present was Brooks McNiven, a right-handed starter who has played for the class A San Jose Giants for the past three seasons. Spending three seasons with the same minor league team is unusual, and McNiven said that this could be either good or bad. The good part is that he is still playing pro ball. Like most of his teammates, McNiven billets in San Jose, due to the high cost of housing there. He also had good things to say about his teammate Tim Lincecum, a first-round draft pick out of the University of Washington.

The turnout for this event was so good that the players were divided into three teams, Old, Middle-age, and Young. Stuart, Francis, and McNiven all played for the Middle-age team, which had four left-handers in the infield much of the time. They played three five-inning games. The first game, between the Middle-age and Young teams, ended in a 1-1 tie. The second game, between, the Old and Middle-age teams, was also a time, 2-2. The Old team won the last game was 8-4, and the winning run came on a solo home run by Wayne Vickers in the top of the fifth. The Old team has now won this event three straight times.

The pitchers for the Old team were Mike Lazaruk, Ryan Berrecloth, Greg Hayes, and Shane Bascom. Cavanagh Whitely, Brent Mutis, Conor Whitely, Ben Herman, and Dan Osachoff pitched for the Middle-age team. (Whitely, whose only pitching experience has been in batting practice, was throwing some nasty stuff.) Brad Ashman, Richard Smythe, Davey Wallace, Tyler Hughes, Johnny Yiu, Chris Ames, Jordy McNiven, and Matt Miller pitched for the Young team. Smythe, Wallace, and Hughes never pitched as under-graduates. Neither did Yiu, but Yiu pitched for Whalley at the 1997 Little League World Series.

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