BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Sunday afternoon began with a ceremony to honor CSUB baseball's first senior class in the two year existence of the program. It ended with a 15-6 Roadrunner win over visiting University of the Pacific in the final of three games played between the two schools, and CSUB's final game of the season at Hardt Field.
Bakersfield used three big offensive innings and the fifth complete-game performance of the season from junior hurler Mike McCarthy to claim a 2-1 series victory over the Tigers and move to 23-25 overall. Pacific, currently in contention for second place in the Big West Conference, fell to 30-18.
All six Roadrunner senior field players got into the action at the plate, combining for 10 of the team's 16 hits on the day. Jason Kudlock led the way with three hits, five RBIs and two runs scored. The senior right fielder also launched his fifth home run of the season as part of a four-run sixth inning for CSUB.
Leadoff Brandon Boren collected a pair of hits and scored three times, Joey Mills added a pair of hits and one RBI, JJ Henry went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Kyle Richardson and Derek Geisinger had one hit apiece.
The Roadrunners took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a Henry sacrifice fly. The squad then exploded for four runs in the third, one in the fifth, four in the sixth and five in the eighth.
Pacific made things interesting midway through, cutting the Bakersfield lead to 6-4 in the top of the sixth. Mike Walker hit a two-run home run in the fourth, Allen Riley knocked in a single run in the fifth and Ben Gorang drew a bases-loaded RBI walk in the sixth. But CSUB added nine runs over the final four frames and McCarthy allowed just two more single-run innings as the Roadrunners pulled away.
McCarthy improved to 5-4 on the season in his fifth complete-game. He struck out five while scattering 13 hits and three walks for five earned runs.
Pacific starter Jake Hummel dropped to 7-3 after giving up eight hits for five earned runs in 4.2 innings.
The Roadrunners close out the home portion of their season with a 17-11 record at Hardt Field. They begin their season-ending eight game road swing on Thursday, opening a three-game series in Fort Worth, Texas, against top 10 ranked TCU.
Score by Innings R H E
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Pacific............. 000 211 110 - 6 13 3
CSU Bakersfield..... 014 014 05X - 15 16 2
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Win - McCarthy (5-4). Loss - Hummel, J (7-3). Save - None.
E - Brown, J.B. 2(7); Richardson(1); Younger(2); Branske(7). DP - CSUB 2.
LOB - PACIFIC 8; CSUB 7. 2B - Walker, M(12); Gorang, B(9); Boren(14);
Rodriguez(12); Medina(13). HR - Walker, M(11); Kudlock(5). HBP - Younger;
Medina. SF - Henry(1). CS - Gorang, B(2); Geisinger(1); Mills(5).
