Baseball March 08, 2010 CSU Bakersfield Athletic Communications

Baseball Seeking to Break Slump at San Francisco

THIS (MID) WEEK
The Roadrunners travel to San Francisco for a pair of midweek games at the University of San Francisco. CSUB and the Dons face off Tuesday and Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Benedetti Diamond.

ON DECK
After the brief midweek trip to the Bay area, the Roadrunners return to Hardt Field to host a three-game series against University of Nevada. The teams open play Friday, Mar. 12 at 2 p.m. Action continues Saturday at 1 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

LIVE STATS
Live statistics are available for the Roadrunners' games at San Francisco. The link can be found on the CSUB baseball schedule page at gorunners.com.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCH-UPS
TUESDAY, MAR. 9, 2010
CSUB: Matt Reyes (RHP) (1-0)
USF: TBD

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 10, 2010
CSUB: TBD
USF: TBD

'RUNNER REPORT
The Roadrunners (5-5) struggled this past weekend in a three-game series against Northern Illinois, dropping all three games, 6-4, 6-2 and 5-3.

The Roadrunners hit just .220 for the series. Not getting the key hit was a major factor as they stranded 28 total runners on base during the series.

SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco is 5-6 on the season after splitting a four-game series with UT-San Antonio last weekend. The Dons also have two wins over Cal Poly and one over Pacific.

Redshirt freshman outfielder Jared Denham is batting .571 with 12 hits in 21 at bats. Senior catcher Ryan Lipkin is batting .350 (14-for-40) with four doubles and two home runs and junior infielder Stephen Yarrow is batting .341 (14-for-41) with two doubles and a team-leading five home runs. Collectively, the Dons are batting .275 while holding opponents to a .271 average.

The pitching staff has done its part, holding a 3.97 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SAN FRANCISCO
The Roadrunners and Dons met once during the 2009 season, a game that resulted in a 5-4 win for San Francisco. Down 5-1, the Roadrunners rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, but both pitchers held their ground in the final two innings as no player was able to get a hit.

TOP OF THE ORDER
The top of the order for Bakersfield struggled over the weekend against Northern Illinois, with the first four batters going a collective 8-for-48 (167). Leadoff Brandon Boren had four of those hits, Ryan McIntyre had three and Martin Medina had one. No. 2 batter Kyle Richardson went hitless in 11 at bats.

BOTTOM OF THE ORDER
The bottom of the order fared much better as the No. 7 through No. 9 batters went a collective 10-for-29 (.345). No. 9 hitter Joey Mills went 4-for-9 with three runs scored, while No. 8 JJ Henry and No. 7 Garrett Branske added four and two hits, respectively.

BLAZING BRANDON
Brandon Boren opened his senior season with a bang, pounding out 12 hits in 20 at bats (.600) over the four-game series against Air Force. He has cooled some, but remains the Roadrunners' top hitter, batting .522 (24-for-46) with 10 runs and 10 RBIs.

BALL CONTROL
One major area of concern last season was the pitching staff's strikeout to walk ratio. During that inaugural season, the Roadrunners finished with a 1.2 strikeout to walk ratio (322 K's, 261 BBs). Through 11 games this season, the Roadrunners have doubled that ratio, tallying 2.4 strikeouts for every walk allowed (81 K's, 34 BB's). Those figures have helped the staff ERA hold at 4.55 so far this year, as opposed to last season's 7.63 ERA.

WALK-OFF
Brandon Boren recorded the second walk-off hit of his Roadrunner career on Feb. 28 against Central Michigan. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the senior second baseman, sent a bloop hit just past first base to score Kevin Younger and give CSUB the 7-6 come-from-behind win.

Boren's first walk-off hit as a Roadrunner took place back on Apr. 8, 2009, when his single down the right-field line scored JJ Henry, giving CSUB a 3-2 win over then defending College World Series champion Fresno State.

FIVE-HIT OUTING
As part of his 12-for-20 performance on opening weekend, Brandon Boren tied his own program record with five hits in one game. He went 5-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored in the second game of the doubleheader on Feb. 20. Those numbers are an exact match to his performance last year in CSUB's 17-12 win over Fresno State on Apr. 7. He is the only Roadrunner to achieve five hits in one game.

OPENING WEEKEND HOME RUN DERBY
Not necessarily known as a home run-hitting team, the Roadrunners tallied seven long balls in their first four games this season. They had four in the season-opener alone, then added three more in the Feb. 20 doubleheader. Martin Medina and JJ Henry have two homers apiece while Stuart Smith, Jason Kudlock and Ryan McIntyre have added one each. For reference, in 50 games played in 2009, the Roadrunners had 36 total home runs.

TOGETHER AGAIN
Bakersfield is the fourth school coaches Bill Kernen and Jody Robinson have worked at together. The two were assistants at Cal State Fullerton in the late 1970's through 1981. During that time, the Titans, who had just made the transition to Division I in 1975, earned five NCAA Tournament appearances, including two trips to the College World Series and a national championship title in 1979. They also teamed up briefly in 1988, both serving as assistants to former Titan Head Coach Augie Garrido, this time at the University of Illinois. In 1991, Kernen was in his second season as the head coach at Cal State Northridge, leading the Matadors through the transition from DII to DI play. Robinson joined the staff as an assistant coach, helping CSUN to a 44–18–1 record, the West Regional championship game and a top 10 ranking in the final NCAA Division I poll in its first season of DI play.

HARDT FIELD
Coming from the 99 Freeway (north or south) exit at Ming Ave. and proceed WEST to Haggin Oaks Blvd. (approximately four miles). Turn right on Haggin Oaks to Camino Media. Turn left on Camino Media. Turn right into campus on Roadrunner Drive and park in Lot E or I. Hardt Field is located west of Lot E.

NEED MORE INFO?
For all of the most up-to-date information about CSUB Baseball and all other Roadrunner sports, visit GoRunners.com.

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