The UFV Cascades men's baseball club extended its Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) title defence in thrilling fashion, rallying for a 5-3 semifinal victory over the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs on Sunday evening in Kelowna.

The Cascades, who won the CCBC crown the last time it was contested in 2019 and boasted a perfect 3-0 record in pool play this weekend, suddenly found themselves staring elimination in the face, trailing 3-0 through the top of the fifth inning in the semifinals vs. PBA.

They battled all the way back, though, taking advantage of five Dawg errors and riding a heroic relief-pitching performance from Dylan Emmons to punch their ticket to Monday's championship final. They'll face the tournament host Okanagan College Coyotes at Elk Stadium at 12 p.m.

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"It was definitely pretty stressful . . . but our offence over the years has been known for some good rallies," noted Kyle Lotzkar, the Cascades' general manager and pitching coach. "We got some good at-bats and stole some bases.

"And when Dylan Emmons comes into the game, our team takes on a different mentality. We're confident, because he's untouchable."

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The Cascades got a solid outing out of starter Brad Bishop, who went five innings with five strikeouts, but the Dawgs plated one run in the top of the fourth and two more in the fifth.

The UFV offence came to life in the bottom of the fifth, though. Stephen Horner got the Cascades on the board with a single to score Ty Crowe, and Dylan Merritt followed by putting the ball in play and advancing to second on an error by the PBA centre fielder, with Horner scoring. Merritt would later come around to score on a wild pitch. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Horner and Merritt got on base and got active on the basepaths to advance to second and third with two out. Another PBA error, this one on a ball off the bat of Connor Coverett, saw both Horner and Merritt score to give the Cascades the lead.

"We scored our runs by stealing bases, moving runners and putting the ball in play, and putting pressure on their defence," Lotzkar said. "Everyone contributed offensively."

Meanwhile, Emmons came into the game in the sixth inning, and tossed four nearly perfect innings, surrendering just a single walk and zero hits while striking out 10 batters. The performance was all the more remarkable considering he'd gone six innings (striking out 13) just two days earlier vs. Thompson Rivers. 

"Dylan was pitching today on short rest, just like he did when we won it in 2019, and it was kind of the same idea," Lotzkar marveled. "He's just on a different level than these hitters. His stuff is pro-level, and the whole team gets more confident when he's on the mound.

"I mentioned it to our players – remember what you're seeing, because you're probably not going to see it again in your lifetime, someone bouncing back on short rest like that and pitching just as well. It was pretty special."