The UBC Thunderbirds baseball team had two losses to give in the opening round of the national championship Santa Clarita bracket, a double-knockout tournament with the promise of a seat at the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Idaho.
The T-birds impressed but ultimately relinquished both games to another bird, the Hawks from San Diego Christian College, who dominated 12-2 in their first meeting but then had to work to win the bracket final.
To reach their second game against the Hawks, UBC pulled off wins in two elimination games before meeting the Hawks in the final and losing a nailbitter 2-0.
"As a coach, all you ask for is that your guys leave it all on the field and without a doubt, these guys did that and that's what I'm most proud of,鈥� said head coach Terry McKaig. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we weren't good enough to win this tournament but we were good enough to win three games as a No. 5 seed and there's a lot to be proud of there. I couldn't be happier.鈥�
UBC finished with a 35-13 record, and earlier in the season, McKaig registered his 500th win with the Thunderbirds program he鈥檚 been building for 17 years.
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