VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds recorded 24 hits, the third most in school history, in a 20-6 over the Redlands (Calif.) Bulldogs in non-conference NAIA baseball action on Tuesday. 

The school record for hits is 26, achieved on Feb. 22, 2010, also against Redlands.

BOX SCORE

The Thunderbirds scored seven runs in the first two innings, which was enough offence for the victory.

After Matt Spillman, Tyson Popoff and Jerod Bartnik opened the game by drawing walks, Kevin Biro stepped up to the plate and knocked a two-RBI single to the left side. Bruce Yari then doubled to left centre to score two more, knocking Redlands starting pitcher Kevin Stevens out the of the game without recording an out.

The UBC offence continued to roll, despite a new pitcher, Andrew Senk, on the mound. T-Birds rookie Vinny Martin greeted Senk with a single to centre field to score Yari. After an inning of play, UBC was up 5-0.

T-Birds starter and reigning NAIA West Pitcher of the Year Bryan Pawlina had a quick 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first to send the UBC batters back to the plate.

A Yari single in the top of the second inning plated Biro and Bartnik, with help from a Bulldogs error, to make the score 7-0.

UBC added a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the seventh before exploding for another big inning in the eighth.

The T-Birds scored six runs on RBI's from Popoff, Bartnik, Biro (2) and Tyler Enns (2). The team added three more runs in the ninth.
 
Redlands got one runner across the plate in the fourth inning and managed to score five runs over the final two innings off Sebastian Wong, an outfielder who made his collegiate pitching debut in relief.

Biro had a huge day at the plate, knocking in five RBI's and recording five hits in seven appearances. Yari was 3-for-4 with four RBI's. Martin was 4-for-6 with three runs batted in along with a walk. He's tied with Biro for the team lead in RBI's with 10. Bartnik drove in three runs on three hits and scored five times.

Pawlina (1-1) got his first win of the year by giving up just one run and four hits over five innings of work. The second-year pitcher from Courtenay, B.C. struck out four batters and didn't walk any.

The T-Birds will play the Westmont Warriors on Wednesday in Santa Barbara, Calif. at 2 p.m. The same two teams will meet again on Thursday at 2 p.m. before UBC finishes the California portion of its season-opening road trip with a neutral-site game in Santa Barbara versus the Menlo Oaks on Friday at 10 a.m.