UBC cruises to pair of wins over Bushnell

The UBC Thunderbirds won both games of a doubleheader against the Bushnell Beacons on Friday. Photo: Vamsi Nadella, UBC Athletics

February 28, 2026

By Jake McGrail

UBC Communications

EUGENE, Ore. – Playing their first road conference games of the season down in Oregon, the Thunderbirds certainly came to play as they beat the Bushnell Beacons in both halves of the doubleheader to begin their three-game series.

The 'Birds compiled a total of 21 runs and 24 hits over 16 innings of play, as they allowed just five runs and 12 hits themselves.

Kansai Sugimoto and Matt Vrlak (Vancouver, B.C.) were the offensive stars, each recording five hits and three runs scored over the course of the day.

GAME ONE

The 'Birds set the tone in the second inning, batting around the order and launching a pair of three-run home runs to take a commanding lead. Stephen Waters (Toronto, Ont.) and Josh Cote (Midland, Ont.) were the power hitters in question, with Vrlak smacking an RBI double to left-centre in between the two deep balls to score another one of the seven total runs in the inning.

That turned out to be more than enough support for starting pitcher Will Anderson (Delta, B.C.), who gave up just a single run in five innings of work. Lukas Kaufmann (Regina, Sask.) pitched the seventh, which turned out to be the final frame as the T-Birds had put up four more runs of their own leading up to that point to enact the mercy rule.

That included a Kellen Bourne (Calgary, Alta.) RBI single in the third, and then a three-run fifth that featured the third homer of the game, this one from Oliver Clements (Vancouver, B.C.). A Vrlak infield single brought home Bourne for the final run of the game, with the Beacons needing to try and regroup ahead of the second outing of the day.

GAME TWO

The run-scoring came a little later in the second game compared to the first, with the scoreboard reading 1-1 at the end of the fourth inning. Bushnell's Nate Stevens got his team on the board with an RBI single in the third, one inning after Matt Vanslyke (Whitby, Ont.) had done so for UBC by firing a double down the left field line.

While there were no home runs this time around, the Thunderbirds put up a combined seven runs between the fifth and sixth innings, and then added two more in the ninth for good measure.

Five different players recorded RBIs in addition to Vanslyke's tally earlier on. Kyle Yip (Calgary, Alta.), Jordan Stewart (Vancouver, B.C.) and Bourne all had two each, with Bourne's and Stewart's coming off of one swing while Yip did so across two different at-bats including a bases loaded walk.

The 'Birds also scored off a Braeden Scott (Vancouver, B.C.) single, Sugimoto double, and a wild pitch. James Brock (Burnaby, B.C.) recorded his third win of the season on the mound, while Daniel Orfaly (White Rock, B.C.) earned a save in a rare relief appearance, pitching the final three innings.

The Thunderbirds and Beacons will do battle once more at 11:00 a.m. (P.T.) on Saturday.