Sean Heppner is right-hand pitcher headed for his second season with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. He is currently playing for the Kamloops NorthPaws, a team playing its inaugural season in the West Coast League.

Bob Broughton, courtesyrunner.com: The British Columbia Thunderbirds made a remarkable turnaround during the last five weeks of the 2022 season, getting four quality wins at the Opening Round Tournament at Lewis-Clark State, and giving Lewis-Clark State, who eventually finished in second place nationally in the NAIA, a real scare. What explanation do you have for the turnaround?

Sean Heppner, Kamloops NorthPaws: We were a really young team. I think over half our team had never played a college baseball game before.

BB: That includes you?

SH: Yeah, including myself. So, just getting to know yourself, as you play the season, you get more comfortable and know which situations you're going to go into and getting the experience. Then, it just kind of all came together and we all kind of felt comfortable pitching and hitting and doing what we needed to to play. And we were having so much fun, which we weren't having for a long time.

BB: How many of those guys are going to be back next year?

SH: We actually only lost three guys.

BB: And you're coming back?

SH: Yeah.

Players from NAIA schools taken in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft:

#1 Georgia Gwinnett swept through the Association of Independent Institutions tournament, defeating Fisher 13-3, Mount Mercy 9-1, and Clarke 6-3 and 14-1. In the first game against Clarke, CF Josh Merrigan hit an RBI single for the winning run. RHP Nikolay Uherek got the win, pitched seven innings, allowed two earned runs on nine hits, struck out six. Story

Zac Rinehart is second in the NAIA in hitting with a .476 average. The Grizzlies are hosting an Opening Round bracket May 17-20. video

#2 Bellevue won the North Star Athletic Association tournament. They hit eight home runs in the final against Mayville State, and won 14-1. LF Joe Moran hit two of the home runs. RHP Ben McKendall had a shutout going into the eighth inning before giving up a home run by LF Aaron Miller. The Comets had to play an "if necessary" game to get to the final, and ran out of pitchers in the seventh inning, when the Bruins scored ten runs. Story None of the games the Bruins played in the tournament were close. RHP Todd Nicks and RHP John Timmins combined for an 11-0 shutout over Waldorf; Nicks struck out 14. Story

McKendall is now 11-1, 1.53 ERA (ninth-best in the NAIA), with 111 strikeouts (tied for sixth-best in the NAIA). The Bruins now wait to learn their Opening Round location.

#3 Lewis-Clark State won the NAIA West tournament, without giving up a single run. The defending champions defeated Corban 7-0, British Columbia 3-0, and C. of Idaho 5-0. RHP Kevin Hamann, RHP Noel Gonzalez (in relief), and RHP Connor Brogdon got the wins; Hamann went the distance. The game against British Columbia was probably the best of the three. It was scoreless until the eight inning, and a good pitching duel between RHP Curtis Taylor of the Thunderbirds (6 IP, 4 hits, 10 strikeouts, no walks) and RHP Quin Grogan of the Warriors (7 2/3 IP, 3 hits, seven strikeouts, three walks). The Warriors got the only run they needed on an RBI double by CF Logan Griffin, off reliever RHP Christian Botnick. LF Jacob Zanon completed the scoring with a solo home run. Story 1B Tyler McDowell went 4-for-4 with two triples and a stolen base in the game against C. of Idaho. Story

The Warriors are idle until the Baseball National Championship tournament May 27-June 3. Both the Thunderbirds (ISR #9, #1 in strength of schedule) and C. of Idaho (ISR #12) will be playing in the Opening Round.

NAIA coaches' poll for April 19, 2016, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

NAIA coaches' poll for March 15, 2016. Recaps below.

The headliners are DH Keivan Berges of Keiser (Formerly Northwood FL) and LHP Adam Hines of LSU-Shreveport. Berges batted .333 with 156 home runs last season. Hines had an ERA of 0.96, and pitched seven complete games, including four straight. OF Colton Nash of Bellevue batted .352, hit grand slam home runs in three consecutive games. RHP Curtis Taylor of British Columbia had an ERA of 1.02. SS Cabe Reiten of Lewis-Clark State batted .411, started all 58 games.

Canada won its second straight gold medal in baseball in the 2015 Pan American Games, played in Ajax, Ontario.

In both 2011 and 2015, alumni of NAIA schools played a key role in Canada's win. The 2011 team had four players who played at NAIA schools, and RHP Chris Kissock of Lewis-Clark State played a key role for that team (story).

The 2015 edition included two NAIA alumni, LHP Jeff Francis of British Columbia and RHP Jared Mortensen of LSU-Shreveport. Francis got two saves during the preliminary round, retired all six batters he faced, struck out two of them. He was called upon to start the gold medal game against the USA. He went seven innings, allowed four runs (two of them on a home run by DH Patrick Kivlehan [Mariners organization, Rutgers]) on eight hits, struck out seven, and walked one. He got a no-decision; the game was tied 4-4 when he left it. Canada ultimately won the game 7-6 in ten innings; the tying and winning runs came on a bad pickoff attempt followed by a throwing error.

In every conference listed here (except the the Southern States Athletic Conference, which had a winner-take-all final), the title was decided by an “if necessary” game. ISR's mentioned here are as of May 6.

Cal State San Marcos (ISR #13) won the Association of Independent Institutions championship for the third time in five years. They lost the first “final” to #1 Georgia Gwinnett 2-1. The Grizzlies out-hit the Cougars 11-5, and SS Ernesto Vasquez hit an RBI single for the winning run. CSUSM won the deciding game 11-5. The Cougars got five runs in the first inning, and added four more in the second. LF Clinton Perez hit an RBI single for the winning run. Emilio Esquibel got his second win of the tournament, and ran his record to 12-1, 2.43 ERA. Story Georgia Gwinnett will host an Opening Round bracket.

#2 Oklahoma City won the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, defeating #3 Oklahoma Baptist twice, 9-6 and 7-5. The Stars trailed in the late innings of both games. They scored four runs in the eighth inning of the first one. In the second one, C Connor Lynch hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth. Story Both Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Baptist are hosting Opening Round brackets.

NAIA coaches' poll for April 28, 2015, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

#1 Cumberland started the season with three losses in a tournament at Belhaven: 11-2 to #9 Missouri Baptist, 7-6 to Culver-Stockton, and 7-6 to #14 Belhaven. The Spartans led the first game all the way; the Bulldogs didn't get on the board until the seventh inning. David Mullins got the win, pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowed one run on five hits, struck out seven. C Jake Hillier hit a line drive for a sacrifice fly to score the winning run for the Wildcats in the second game. Ian Miller, who allowed only one hit over the final three innings, and recorded four strikeouts, got the win. In the third game, the Bulldogs left 11 men on base, and had the tying run on third when the game ended. The winning run scored when RF Joey Harris was hit by a pitch. Harris went 2-for-3, had two RBI and a run scored. The Bulldogs visit #23 Tennessee Wesleyan on Feb. 11, then have their home opener against Missouri Baptist Feb. 13-14.

Missouri Baptist is now 6-0. After the win over Cumberland, the Spartans defeated Belhaven 13-8 amd Culver-Stockton 10-5. LF Orlando Olivera went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, five RBI and three runs scored against Belhaven. Olivera got two more RBI against Culver-Stockton, and RF Eli Roundtree went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.

#2 Lewis-Clark State went to a tournament in Nampa and Caldwell, ID, and dropped their opener to Concordia-Portland 13-6, but they won the next three games: 5-4 over Division II Northwest Nazarene, 21-2 over #24 British Columbia, and 8-0 over C. of Idaho. Concordia broke open a close game by scoring seven runs in the bottom fo the seventh, led by a two-RBI double by C Nate Esposito. RHP Brad Bearden pitched the final 3 2/3 innings for the Cavaliers, allowed no runs on two hits. The Warriors scored two runs in the top of the ninth, on a two-RBI single by 1B Seth Brown, to take a 5-3 lead against Northwest Nazarene. The Crusaders made it 5-4 on an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth, but the game ended with 2B/3B Tyler Davis being tagged out five feet short of home plate by RHP Joe Mello. SS Max Whitt hit two home runs, one of them a grand slam, against British Columbia. RHP Beau Kerns pitched a three-hit shutout against C. of Idaho, struck out seven. Brown went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI.