UBC earns Conference opening doubleheader split

Infielder Stephen Waters (Toronto, Ont.) had a run in each game for UBC in their doubleheader split against Lewis-Clark State on Friday. Photo: Vamsi Nadella, UBC Thunderbirds

February 20, 2026

By Jeff Sargeant

UBC Communications

VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (1-1, 6-5) earned a Cascade Collegiate Conference opening day split with the visiting Lewis-Clark State Warriors (1-1, 7-1) at a chilly Tourmaline West Stadium Friday afternoon, bouncing back with a convincing 9-1 victory after falling 5-2 in the first half of the doubleheader.

David Krahn (Langley, B.C.) was tremendous at the plate for the No. 10 T-Birds with a combined five hits including a solo home run.

The 'Birds struggled to find their bats at key moments in game one, thanks in large part to a stellar starting performance from LC's Evan Canfield who allowed just one earned run with seven strikeouts.

James Brock (Burnaby, B.C.) countered in game two for the T-Birds, collecting his second win of the season after going five full innings, limiting LC to one run on four hits.

"Any time you get the split it's a huge positive, especially going into the next game," said UBC head coach, Chris Pritchett. "I thought in the first game, that Canfield's really good, and the kid that came in, Jace Taylor, he had good stuff. We put some pressure on them, we just couldn't get a hit when we needed one. They had a couple big blows, otherwise there wasn't a whole lot of offence on either side. The second game was good, the middle of the game we were really grinding through, had some clutch hits and put pressure on them."

GAME ONE

The earliest home start for the T-Birds' season in recent memory was appropriately met by near sub-zero temperatures and a few light snowflakes falling. But the weather certainly didn't dampen either team and one of the best rivalries across the conference over the past decade-plus.

Lewis-Clark State was able to strike quickly with Izzy Madariaga launching a two-run homer in the top of the first. But UBC starter Will Anderson (Delta, B.C.) settled down and struck out two of his next three batters to limit the damage.

Kansai Sugimoto brought in UBC's first run of the day on an RBI single to left-centre field plating Matt Vrlak (Vancouver, B.C.) from second, cutting LC's lead to one.

Cade Westerlund hammered the Warriors' second long ball of the game in the top of the fourth, another two-run shot to open up a 4-1 advantage.

With the bases loaded in the top of the fifth and one down, the 'Birds went to the bullpen as Owen McConnell (Vancouver, B.C.) headed to the mound. His first batter faced, Sam Weber, hit into a fielder's choice which scored a fifth run for the Warriors, but the sophomore thrower held LC off the board for the next 2 2/3 innings.

Freshman reliever Oscar Moy (Vancouver, B.C.) pitched the final two innings for UBC, earning a solid six outs allowing just two LC hits.

But the T-Birds' bats were only able to score one more run over the final five innings while Jordan Lennartson earned the save to keep the Warriors perfect on the season.

GAME TWO

The Warriors showed some of their best in the series opener but showed some uncharacteristic lack of composure in the field to begin the second half of the doubleheader. LC State racked up three errors in the bottom of the first alone, allowing UBC to cash in a pair of runs.

The error monster got the Warriors again the bottom of the fourth allowing Vrlak and Matt Vanslyke (Whitby, Ont.) to score on a Sugimoto two-out double, pushing the 'Birds to a 5-1 advantage.

Krahn kept the pedal down with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fifth, his third bomb of the season, while Vrlak and Kyle Yip (Calgary, Alta.) both managed RBI doubles in the sixth for an 8-1 UBC lead.

LC's sixth error of the game, a botched throw from third in the eighth, allowed Vanslyke to score a ninth T-Bird run.

While the 'Birds' bats got the job done at the plate, UBC's pitching staff did their part on the mound. Making his first home appearance, Kaden Douglas-Pluff (North Vancouver, B.C.) pitching three innings in relief allowing just one hit and racking up five strikeouts. Oliver Duthie closed things out in the ninth striking out two batters to preserve the eight-run win.

"I don't expect them to boot the ball around like that tomorrow, they'll be better," said Pritchett of LC State's uncharacteristic troubles in game two. "When you play them you got to play at your best to beat them so I think when we come out here tomorrow it's going to be that same situation."

UBC's combined 14 runs came with just six extra base hits – all of them in the second game. A combination of well placed singles and sacrifice bunts paid dividends on a day where the ball was certainly not going to be traveling far given conditions.

"I think we're going to have to do some things like that just to keep putting pressure on teams in different ways,” said Pritchett. “I think there is some power and it will come, but especially on a day like this, it's so cold, balls really aren't travelling so you got to find ways to keep pushing runs across and I thought we did a really good job at that in the second game."

The rubber match of the three-game conference series will see Myles Chamberlain (Victoria, B.C.) get his first home start for the blue and gold with first pitch Saturday set for 1:00 p.m. at Tourmaline West Stadium.