VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds fell 13-4 to the California State San Bernardino Coyotes in the opening game of the Inaugural JetHawks Collegiate Baseball Classic at The Hangar in Lancaster, Calif., on Wednesday night.
 
CSUSB scored 11 runs on 11 hits and sent 15 batters to the plate in the sixth inning to break away from a 2-1 lead.
 
UBC tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third. Lichel Hirakawa-Kao (Vancouver) hit a one-out double to right field to get into scoring position. He advanced to third on a fielder's choice and then come home on the same play after an error by the Coyotes' second baseman.
 
CSUSB re-took the lead with a single run in the fourth before its offensive explosion in the sixth to make the score 13-1.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) doubled to centre field to score Lucas Soper (Vancouver), who was hit by a pitch as the leadoff hitter.
 
The T-Birds added two more runs in the seventh. Hirakawa-Kao hit an RBI groundout to bring home Mike Orosz (Vancouver), who opened the inning with a walk. Michael Heaton came to the plate after Orosz and also drew a base on balls. He eventually moved to third base, and then scored on a wild pitch.

In his first game at the university level, Hirakawa-Kao drove in a run, scored a run and had two hits in four at-bats.
 
UBC falls to 10-5 on the season. The team will play California State Los Angeles Thursday at 4 p.m., at the JetHawks Collegiate Baseball Classic.