LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team took advantage of an opportunistic offense and a strong pitching performance to win a non-conference game against British Columbia on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles scored five runs on only two hits in the first inning and never looked back in an 8-5 win over the Thunderbirds at Reeder Field. James Mendez and three relievers made the early offense stand up in the victory.

Mendez worked the first 4 1/3 innings and allowed four hits and three earned runs and then Austin Nazabal, Robbie Stowell and Sean Watkins combined for 4 2/3 hitless innings of relief.

Andre Gregory had a triple to lead things off for the Golden Eagles, walked twice and scored a pair of runs. Anthony Ayala and Nate Alam also scored two runs and Alam and Watkins had two hits each. Cal State LA had only two RBI with its eight runs scored.

The Golden Eagles struck early with plenty of help from the Thunderbirds. Gregory lined a triple down the right-field line and Ayala was hit by a pitch. Watkins singled to right to drive in Gregory and Ayala took third. Ayala scored and Watkins moved to second on a passed ball and then Watkins took third on an errant throw. Jorge Garcia walked and Watkins scored as Nick Bereaud grounded into a double play to make it 3-0. Randy Buenrostro was hit by a pitch and Alam walked and Edgar Vela reached on an error to load the bases. Eli Orona struck out, but reached first on a passed ball, allowing Buenrostro to score and Alam came around to score as well on another errant throw to make it 5-0.

British Columbia got three runs back in the third on three hits, two walks and an error, but Cal State LA got another run in the fourth when Gregory walked and later came around to score on an error to make it 6-3.

Justin Orton singled in a run in the fifth inning to make it 6-4, but Cal State LA got single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to put the game away. Ayala walked, went to third on a double by Watkins and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth and Alam had a two-out double and scored on a single by Vela in the seventh.

Nazabal worked two scoreless innings for the Golden Eagles, Stowell struck out the only two batters he faced to end the seventh and Watkins struck out four over the final two innings and retired all six batters he faced.

Cal State LA will open California Collegiate Athletic Association play on Friday with the opener of a four-game series at Cal State East Bay.