April 5, 2023

By Jeff Sargeant

UBC Communications

VANCOUVER – In one of the highlights of the schedule for the UBC Thunderbirds, the blue and gold took to the field at historic Nat Bailey Stadium to face the High-A Vancouver Canadians Wednesday night for a seven-inning exhibition matchup.

While the professionals came away with the 8-1 victory, it was exceedingly difficult to not find a beaming smile in the T-Birds' dugout following the friendly affair in front of a couple thousand fans at baseball's lauded "prettiest little ballpark".

"From BP on our guys got to see some really elite professional players close up and compete against them and I thought we did really well," said UBC head coach Chris Pritchett after the Canadians evened their annual exhibition game series. "There were some guys who were a little bit nervous but they're going to learn from that and I think our program showed well. I mean, we didn't win the game like last year but we were competitive and I think they got something out of it and we certainly got something out of it so we're going to use this and just keep moving forward, it was fun."

Cole Alguire (Calgary, Alta.) got the start on the bump for the T-Birds who used a total of eight pitchers in order to keep arms fresh with a four-game Cascade Collegiate Conference series against Bushnell starting Friday afternoon.

The game remained scoreless through one thanks in large part to a terrific grab by UBC short stop Mike Fitzsimmons (Chilliwack, B.C.) who started a double play to end the inning.

The C's got their bats going in the bottom of the second when third baseman Cade Doughty doubled. Jommer Hernandez then brought Doughty home with a single to right. With two out and a pair of runners in scoring position, James Brock (North Vancouver, B.C.) came into the game as the T-Birds' first relief pitcher and he struck out his first batter to limit the damage.

In the bottom of the third, Canadians DH Alex De Jesus scored on a UBC throwing error before Doughty earned his second RBI base hit of the night with a double to centre giving the hosts a 4-0 lead.

Brendan Logan (Oyen, Alta.) pitched the fourth for UBC and went three-up, three-down to quickly get the 'Birds back on offence.

After Trenton Wallace pitched four shutout innings for the Canadians, allowing just two T-Bird hits, Hunter Gregory headed to the mound. After David Draayers (Abbotsford, B.C.) earned a walk, Kyle Anderson (Burnaby, B.C.) made good contact with a heavy line drive but C's first baseman Rainer Nunez got his glove on it before tagging first for the double play to end the inning.

Luciano Letteri (Coquitlam, B.C.) replaced Brett Corbeth (London, Ont.) in the batting order and the UBC outfielder hit a lead off single. Letteri got himself to third on a pair of fielders choice plays as veteran Noah Or (Richmond, B.C.) came to the plate with two down. The catcher singled to left, scoring Letteri to get the 'Birds on the board for what turned out to be their only run of the game.

Corbeth was able to play both sides Wednesday night as he hit the mound for the bottom of the sixth and lasted an inning and two-thirds with three strikeouts. Kellen Bourne (Calgary, Alta.) closed things out in the seventh and final frame.

"The guys were ready to come in and the guys that did come in I thought did a pretty good job," added Pritchett. "A couple I think were really trying to throw a little bit too hard but they'll learn from that. And I thought the one takeaway was all our pitchers – if they make their pitches – they can get good hitters out. So that should give them confidence when we go back and play the guys that we play at our level."

The T-Birds will be back in Cascade Collegiate Conference play this weekend when they host the Bushnell Beacons for a four-game series starting with a doubleheader Friday at Tourmaline West Stadium. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. PT.