A pair of Richmond baseball standouts have helped the UBC Thunderbirds earn home field advantage for the upcoming NAIA West Playoff Tournament.
The Thunderbirds head to the postseason with a 20-8 conference record and 29-11 overall mark. Fourth-year players Tyson Popoff and Sean Callegari have been a big part of their success.
Popoff ranks second on the team with 33 runs scored, while batting .294. UBC's starting shortstop also is third in hits (47) which includes nine doubles and a home run. Callegari has posted a solid 5-2 record on the mound in 11 starts this season. The lefty has has recorded 38 strikeouts in 68 innings of work and has a 2.73 ERA.
His last start was an 8-0 win over Simpson Redhawks in the regular season series finale. Callegari gave up four hits and no walks over six innings.
The T-Birds had three shutouts in their series with the Redhawks, with the one slip-up being the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, when the visitors managed to break out for seven runs on 13 hits to make it interesting after UBC posted an eight-spot in the second inning. But the 'Birds kept adding to the lead throughout the game to take care of business and guarantee home field for the playoffs, starting May 2. "It's kind of a tough time of year with guys being in their final exams, so they're up studying late at night and dealing with the stresses of that, so you're not always going to see the most focused group at this time of year, and it was good to get the four wins we needed," said UBC head coach Terry McKaig. "Now we have a few extra days to take care of exams and we have 11 or 12 days to get ramping up for the playoffs."
McKaig is hoping the 36 runs and three shutouts UBC put up in the series will put the squad in the right frame of mind for postseason success.
"Bottom line is that you want that confidence from having a good weekend. The last two weekends on the road we hadn't swung the bats very well, so this was good for that confidence," said McKaig. "During the break, that's where it's up to us as coaches to create some competitive environments between now and the tournament."
