BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The CSUB baseball team opened the 2010 season in style Friday, using four home runs to score six runs in an 8-4 win over Air Force Academy at Hardt Field. JJ Henry blasted a pair of long balls, his first two in a Roadrunner uniform, while Ryan McIntyre and Stuart Smith added one each.
After a pair of quick innings to open the game, the Falcons jumped on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the third. With two outs, Matthew Roberts draw a four-pitch walk off CSUB starter Mickey Jannis. Garrett Custons then tripled through the right side to plate Roberts. K.J. Randhawa singled up the middle, sending Custons across home plate and giving Air Force a 2-0 lead.
The Roadrunners responded immediately, as Henry led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left. After a Joey Mills foul fly to right, Brandon Boren reached courtesy of an error by the third baseman and Kyle Richardson singled to right. That brought McIntyre to the plate to launch his first home run of the season over the right-center field wall, giving the Roadrunners a 4-2 lead.
With one out in the fourth, Henry collected his second homer, a solo shot to left, pushing the CSUB lead to 5-2. After Air Force cut the spread to 5-4 with single runs in the top of the fifth and sixth, Smith launched CSUB's fourth home run of the game, a lead-off solo shot in the sixth. The Roadrunners added two more runs in the seventh on RBI-singles by Jason Kudlock and Henry to secure the season-opening victory.
Henry went 3-for-4 with three RBI's while McIntyre and Kudlock had two hits apiece.
On the mound, Jannis (1-0) struck out six, walked a pair and scattered eight hits in 6.1 innings of work. Sam Jones and Spenser Messmore pitched in relief for the Roadrunners, combining for three strikeouts.
Custons went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Falcons. Air Force also got a pair of hits each from Randhawa, Roberts and Nathan Carter. Alex Truesdale (0-1) took the loss, giving up eight hits, including all four home runs, and five earned runs in 5.2 innings.
As part of a “Salute to the Troops” themed weekend, the pregame ceremony included special presentations by Kern County veterans and the Commander of Edwards Air Force Base, Major General David J. Eichhorn. The festivities concluded with a flyover by a pair of F-16's.
The Roadrunners and Falcons return to Hardt Field Saturday at 11 a.m. for games two and three of the weekend's four-game series.
Score by Innings R H E
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Air Force........... 002 011 000 - 4 12 2
CSU Bakersfield..... 004 101 20X - 8 11 1
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E - LANE(1); LOOSEN(1); Henry(1). LOB - AF 10; CSUB 7. 2B - CUSTONS(1);
ROBERTS, M.(1); McIntyre(1); Kudlock(1). 3B - CUSTONS(1). HR - McIntyre(1);
Smith(1); Henry 2(2). HBP - Rodriguez. SH - LANE(1). SB - AUSBUN(1). Reached
on CI - Rodriguez.
