STOCKTON, Calif. ? In a game that featured 38 total hits, the CSUB baseball team came up on the short end of the offensive battle Friday in Stockton, falling 21-8 to the University of Pacific at the Klein Family Field.
Offensive action in the first in a season-ending three-game series between the Roadrunners (12-36) and Tigers (20-31) began in the top of the second, with Bakersfield taking an early 3-0 lead. With one out, Jeremy Rodriguez hit a lofting single to shallow right, Ryan McIntyre followed with a single through the left side and Mick Gaston blasted a three-run homer to near straightaway center.
Pacific responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, beginning with a Mike Walker leadoff single through the right side. After Jamie Niley lined out to second on a diving catch by Brandon Boren, Mike McKeever singled to left and Ben Gorang doubled down the left field line sending Walker home. Nick Longmire struck out swinging for out No. 2, but J.B. Brown followed with an RBI single to short and Joey Centanni sent two more across home plate with a two-RBI double to right field.
Bakersfield tied the score 4-4 in the top of the third with back-to-back hits and a sacrifice fly. Boren led off the inning with a triple off the left field fence, Martin Medain reached on an infield single and Richard Escalera's sacrifice fly to right scored Boren.
Pacific tacked on four more in the fourth on a Longmire two run homer to left, an RBI-single to right by Kurt Wideman and an RBI-double to left-center by Walker to take an 8-4 lead. Things then got out of hand for the Bakersfield pitching staff as the Tigers put together back-to-back five run innings in the fifth and sixth to go ahead 18-4.
The ?Runners got one back in the sixth on an RBI ground out by McIntyre, and three more in the seventh on a two-RBI double to center by Medina and a sacrifice fly to center by Escalera, cutting the spread to 18-8, but three more Tiger runs in the seventh made it a 21-8 UOP lead.
Bakersfield starter Spenser Messmore (2-4) lasted just 3 2/3 innings, striking out three while surrendering 14 hits and one walk. Korie Walkley issued a pair of strikeouts and allowed six hits in 2 1/3 innings. Jacob Valenzuela and Garrett Branske closed out the final two innings, combining to allow five hits and just one run.
Pacific starter Joey Centanni recorded four strikeouts while giving up 12 hits in seven innings, picking up his fifth win of the season.
For Bakersfield, Medina went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while both Boren and Rodriguez added a pair of hits.
Longmire, Centanni and Walker had four hits each for Pacific, which had 11 different players tally at lease one hit each.
The Roadrunners and Tigers continue series action Saturday at 5:35 p.m., then conclude play Sunday at 1 p.m.
Score by Innings R H E
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CSU Bakersfield..... 031 001 300 - 8 13 3
Pacific............. 040 455 30X - 21 25 1
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Win - Centanni, J. (5-6). Loss - Messmore (2-4). Save - None.
E - Richardson(18); McIntyre(4); Henry(4); Gorang, B.(10). DP - Road Runners 1. LOB - Road Runners 4; Tigers 12. 2B - Medina(12); Rodriguez(7); Longmire, N. 2(15); Simms, J.(3); Centanni, J.(12); Walker, M.(12); Niley, J. 2(6); Gorang, B. 2(12). 3B - Boren(1); Centanni, J.(2). HR - Gaston(3); Longmire,
N.(6); Walker, M.(6). HBP - Brown, J.B.; Niley, J.; Gorang, B.. SF - Escalera 2(4); Centanni, J.(5); Wideman, K.(3). SB - Longmire, N.(7). CS - Mills(4).
