VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds baseball team opened NAIA West play on Saturday with two wins over the Simpson (Calif.) Red Hawks in Redding, Calif.
 
Starting pitcher Alex Webb (Surrey, B.C.) went eight innings in a 5-3 Game 1 triumph, while designated hitter Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.) drove in three runs as UBC won 9-4 in Game 2.
 
Right fielder Geoff Ehresman (Vancouver) opening the scoring in the second inning of the first contest, as he drove in Lichel Hirakawa-Kao (Vancouver) with a single to right.
 
Second baseman Anthony Olson (Edmonton) led off the third inning with a double down the left field line, and later stole home on a double steal with Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.).
 
Catcher Braeden Allemann (Surrey, B.C.) then doubled to right to bring home Yari.
 
The Red Hawks got a run back in the fifth but the T-Birds replied in the sixth on a two-out, bases loaded walk that scored Hirakawa-Kao. UBC added another insurance run in the seventh as Hirakawa-Kao plated Allemann on an RBI single to left field.
 
Simpson loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of eighth inning and eventually got two runs across to cut the UBC lead to 5-3 with one out, but T-Birds starter Webb struck out both George Cecchetti and Dylan Mumford to end the threat.
 
Ethan Skuija (Victoria, B.C.) came on in the ninth and struck out three Red Hawks to close out the game.

Webb improved to 5-0 on the season after working eight innings and recording 13 strikeouts.
 
Yari was 2-for-2 with an RBI, two stolen bases and three walks.
 
He was even more impressive in Game 2, knocking in three runs with a 4-for-4 performance.
 
UBC's seven runs in the third inning proved to be difference, despite Simpson posting two runs to open the game.
 
Olson led off the third with a walk, and Yari, the next batter, then promptly nailed a two-run home run over the right-field fence to tie the game.
 
Centre fielder Griff Goyer (Burnaby, B.C.) doubled to centre to score right fielder Lucas Soper (Vancouver), who had got on base on an error.
 
After Goyer moved to third on a ground ball, he crossed home plate on left fielder Brendan Rose's (Calgary) single up the middle. Rose came home later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Hirakawa-Kao.
 
Third baseman Vinny Martin (Pender Island, B.C.) then scored on a wild pitch. Yari's single to right field plated catcher Mike Orosz (Vancouver) to round out the scoring in the seventh.
                                        
UBC tacked on another run in the fourth as first baseman Will Nitransky (Niagara Falls, Ont.) came home on a wild pitch.
 
Soper got an RBI in the top of the seventh on a fielder's choice to score Hirakawa-Kao.
 
On the mound, T-Birds starter pitcher Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) struck out 11 batters and gave up just one hit and a lone earned run to record the victory.
 
UBC improved to 15-5 and 2-0 in NAIA West play with the Saturday victories. The T-Birds and Red Hawks will face off in a doubleheader again on Sunday at 11 a.m. The first matchup will count in the conference standings.