LEWISTON, Idaho – The College of Idaho baseball team dropped a 10-5 decision to No. 24-ranked University of British Columbia on Friday afternoon in the first round of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank at Harris Field on the campus of Lewis Clark State College.

The No. 3-seeded Yotes took an early lead in the opening inning, plating a run on a Caden Casagrande RBI groundout, but the No. 2-seeded Thunderbirds responded immediately with two runs in the bottom half and never trailed the rest of the way.

UBC extended its advantage to 3-1 in the third and then broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning to take an 8-1 lead. The Thunderbirds added solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings to build a 10-3 cushion.

The College of Idaho showed resilience late. Jace Mahlke lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring home Skye Palmer, Casagrande launched a solo home run to center field in the eighth, and Jack Ryan capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the ninth to make it 10-5.

Palmer finished the afternoon going 2 for 4 with two runs scored, while Ryan went 1 for 3 with two RBIs. Casagrande contributed a home run and two RBIs, and Austin Moon and Corbin Sterner each added hits for the Yotes.

The College of Idaho bullpen settled the game down with scoreless work from Willy Shirts and Daniel Kormylo, while Tate Baird and Luca Quilici also saw action.

UBC totaled 14 hits and was paced by Josh Cote, who drove in three runs, and David Krahn, who went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. James Brock earned the win with six strong innings, allowing one run on two hits.

With the loss, The College of Idaho moves into the loser's bracket and will face No. 5 seed Oregon Tech on Saturday at noon Mountain Time. Oregon Tech fell 18-4 in seven innings to No. 4 seed Bushnell earlier Friday.