Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, third day

The third day of the Cascade Collegiate Conference 2025 tournament at Tourmaline West Stadium on the University of British Columbia campus. Lewis-Clark State won the championship.

#1 seed British Columbia 9, #3 Oregon Tech 6 (Oregon Tech eliminated). The Thunderbirds led 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Hustlin’ Owls opened the inning by sending in Jacob Cook to pinch hit, and he was walked by Thunderbird starter Daniel Orfaly. Orfaly struck out the next batter, then walked Korrey Siracusa. He was relieved by James Brock. Brock hit Patrick Barry to load the bases. Tyler Horner then hit a two-RBI single. Julien Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and Logan Macy drew a walk to tie the game 5-5. It was one out, and the bases were loaded. Brock proceeded to strike out Keanu Mizuta and Ka’ala Tam to get out of the inning.

David Krahn opened the top of the eighth with a home run. The Owls brought in Kaden Melzer to pitch, and he hit Kyle Yip. Yip moved to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a ground out by Russell Young. He then scored the winning run on a failed pickoff attempt. Trent Lenihan then hit a ball to right field that was misplayed, and two runs scored to put the Thunderbirds ahead 9-5.

Barry made a good play at shortstop in the top of the ninth. Julien Jones hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 9-6, but Brock got a strikeout, a ground out, and another strikeout to end the game.

The Thunderbirds started the scoring with a solo home run by Lenihan in the first inning, and solo home runs by Kaden Zarowny and Jonny McGill in the third. Horner hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third, and Mizuta hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. Zarowny hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth.

Brock got the win. He pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowed two runs on three hits, struck out six. Melzer got the loss. He was charged with three runs (only one earned) on zero hits. Lenihan finished 3-for-5 with four RBI. Horner finished 2-for-5 with three RBI. box score

#2 Lewis Clark State 7, #1 British Columbia 6. The Warriors won the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament. They started off with a three-run home run by Jakob Marquez in the bottom of the first. (The Warriors were the home team.) They increased their lead to 4-0 with an RBI double by Charlie Updegrave in the second. In the top of the third inning, the Thunderbirds got runners on first and second. Jonny McGill hit a long ball to left field, but it was caught, and the baserunners had to hustle back. Then the next batter, Trent Lenihan, hit a three-run home run, and the Thunderbirds trailed by only 4-3. They had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fourth, and stranded them.

Bulla Ephan hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. The score remained 5-3 until the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh, McGill drew a walk with two outs, and went to third on two wild pitches. Lenihan drew a walk, and went to second on yet another wild pitch. McGill scored on an infield single by Aaron Marsh. Jackson Cloud relieved Levi Anderson for the Warriors, and he got Kellen Bourne to fly out. The Warriors led 5-4. In the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Cabrera hit an RBI single, and the Warriors led 6-4.

The Thunderbirds tied it in the top of the eighth with a two-run home run by David Draayers. Kaden Zarowny and Russell Young hit singles, and McGill walked to load the bases with one out. Cloud was relieved by Jake Green. He faced a long at-bat by Lenihan that resulted in a popup that was not deep enough to score a run. Marsh then flied out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

So, the game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth. Marquez hit a double with one out. Cabrera was intentionally walked. He and the pinch runner for Marquez moved to second and third on a wild pitch by Dylan Myttenar. Dominic Signorelli drew a walk to load the bases, then Noah Weintraub hit a single to win it.

Green pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, and got the win. He retired all five batters he faced. Kolby Solomon was also effective for the Warriors; he pitched the fourth through sixth innings, allowed one hit, struck out two. Myttenar got the loss. Evan Hoegler was effective for the Thunderbirds; he pitched the fifth and sixth innings, didn’t allow a hit, struck out three. Marquez finished 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, and three RBI. Cabrera finished 3-for-4 with one RBI. Young and Zarowny each had two hits for the Thunderbirds. box score recap

Lewis-Clark State gets an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round because they host an Opening Round bracket. Because of this, British Columbia also gets an Opening Round bid as the conference runners-up.