Baseball May 06, 2010 CSU Bakersfield Athletic Communications

No. 20 Arizona Wildcats Up Next For CSUB Baseball

THIS WEEK
The Roadrunners face off against their fourth Pac-10 opponent of the season, traveling to face No. 20 University of Arizona for a three-game series in Tucson. The teams open play Friday, May 7 at 6 p.m. (MST). Game two is Saturday at 6 p.m. (MST) and the series finale is Sunday at noon (MST).

ON DECK
The Roadrunners return to Hardt Field for the final time in 2010 to host Big West Conference member University of the Pacific in a three-game set. The series opener is Friday, May 14 at 3 p.m., followed by 1 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday.

LIVE STATS
Live statistics are available for all CSUB games this week. The link for all games can be found on the baseball schedule page at gorunners.com.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCH-UPS
FRIDAY, MAY. 7, 2010
CSUB: Mickey Jannis (RHP) (4-3)
ARIZONA: Kurt Heyer (RHP) (6-1)

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010
CSUB: Martin Medina (RHP) (4-1)
ARIZONA: Kyle Simon (RHP) (6-4)

SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2010
CSUB: Mike McCarthy (RHP) (3-4)
ARIZONA: TBD

'RUNNER REPORT
The Roadrunners bounced back from three one-run losses to then No. 29 UC Irvine last weekend to claim a 4-0 win over visiting UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday. In the bottom of the first, Brandon Boren gave the Roadrunners the only run they would need, tallying his first home run of the season in the team's first at bat. Bakersfield added another run in the second on three Gaucho errors and two more runs in the sixth. On the mound, Jonathan Montoya tossed his first complete game shutout and never allowed a runner past second base.

MONTOYA'S MAGIC
Jonathan Montoya pitched the second complete game of his collegiate career and his first collegiate shutout Tuesday, May 4 against UC Santa Barbara. In his best outing of the season, the sophomore southpaw had every pitch working for him as he recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts and never allowed a UCSB runner to advance past second base.

SCOUTING ARIZONA
Arizona enters this weekend's series with a 29-14 overall record and a No. 20 national ranking. The Wildcats rode a 15-game win streak early in the season, but have faltered in recent weeks, going 2-5 in their last seven outings. On Tuesday, they fell 13-1 to No. 2 Arizona State.

The Wildcats may well be one of the best offensive teams the Roadrunners have faced this season, carrying a .334 team batting average. Steve Selsky leads the way with 70 hits (including 12 doubles, five triples and six home runs) and a .395 average. Tobert Refsnyder is batting .393 and Jett Bandy is close behind at .388 and a team-high 19 doubles. Arizona is also quick on the base path, successfully stealing 80 bases in 108 attempts this season.

On the mound, Friday starter Kurt Heyer leads the team in ERA (2.18), wins (6) and strikeouts (80). RHP Kyle Simon will get the start Saturday, carrying a 3.69 ERA, 6-4 record and 40 strikeouts in 78 innings. Sunday's starter is TBD.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ARIZONA
This will be the first ever meeting between the Roadrunners and Wildcats.

BOREN'S BACK
Brandon Boren began the 2010 season on a tear, boosting his batting average to .600 after opening weekend. He continued to roll through the month of March and into April, compiling a 16-game hit streak. That streak came to an end on Apr. 10 against Cal State Northridge. He went hitless in six-of-nine games, but has come on strong again and currently rides a five-game streak. He is 9-for-23 (.391) in the past five games, while also adding five runs, three RBI's, one double, one triple and one home run. The senior second baseman has also reclaimed the team's top batting average at .387.

KUDLOCK CRUISING
Jason Kudlock's hit streak came to and end at 17 consecutive games after he went hitless on Apr. 30 against UC Irvine. He has bounced back for a pair of hits in each of the next three games and currently holds the team's fourth highest average at .358. The senior is first on the team in doubles (12) and triples (5) and second in home runs (4).

YOUNGER NO MORE
Kevin Younger is the youngest member of the 2010 Roadrunners squad (born July 15, 1991), but the freshman outfielder has surged in recent weeks, becoming a force at the plate. Earning starts in the past 18 games, Younger has gone 29-for-75 (.387) with five doubles, 14 runs and 13 RBIs. For the season, he is now hitting .373.

A BUMP IN THE ROAD
Jeremy Rodriguez's school record 19-game hit streak dating back to Mar. 31 against Stony Brook came to an end on Tuesday, May 4 against UC Santa Barbara. The sophomore catcher went 0-for-2 with a walk and hit by pitch in the 4-0 win for the Roadrunners.

During his 19-game streak, Rodriguez went 34-for-79 (.430). He had three four-hit outings while also collecting 21 runs scored, 10 RBIs, seven doubles and one home run.

MEDINA'S MUSCLE
Martin Medina has 53 hits on the year, 22 of which have been for extra bases. He is batting .303 and leads the Roadrunners in home runs (10), RBIs (41), at bats (175) and runs (34). He is also second in doubles (11) and slugging percentage (.539). For reference, as a rookie in 2009, Median finished the season (50 games) with 55 hits, 13 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 40 RBIs.

TRIPLE DOUBLE
Jason Kudlock knocked out a pair of triples in consecutive at bats on May 1 against UC Irvine. It was the first time in CSUB history a player had recorded multiple triples in a game.

RUN RECORD
The Roadrunners' 19 runs scored on Apr. 18 against UC Davis marked an all-time program record. The previous high of 17 was first achieved on Apr. 7, 2009, in a 17-12 win over Fresno State. CSUB matched that mark on Mar. 19 of this season in a 17-7 win over San Jose State.

RECORD BREAKER
Mike McCarthy turned in his second record-breaking outing of the season on Apr. 13, fanning 13 Fresno State batters in a 12-2 complete-game win. That mark broke his own previous CSUB record off 11 strikeouts, a feat he achieved on Mar. 14 against Nevada.

The junior RHP now has a team-high 69 strikeouts on the season, breaking Mickey Jannis' 2009 single-season record of 61.

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, 261 BB). Through 37 games this season, the Roadrunners' ratio is nearly doubled, as they have tallied 2.2 strikeouts for every walk allowed (301 K, 138 BB). Those figures have helped the staff carry a 4.56 ERA so far this year, as opposed to last season's 7.63 ERA.

FIRST SAVE
Seventeen wins into the 2010 season, CSUB finally recorded its first save in its Apr. 17, 12-4 win over UC Davis. Martin Medina pitched three scoreless, hitless innings of relief to preserve Matt Reyes' third win of the season. The sophomore utility player struck out six of the eight batters he faced in the third save of his career.

MIDWAY POINT
CSUB's Apr. 9 game against Cal State Northridge marked the midway point of the 56-game season. The Roadrunners made the best of the outing, collecting their 13th win of the season, matching last year's final win total.

At last year's midpoint, 25 games in, the Roadrunners held a 5-20 overall record. In that 25th game, they broke a 13-game losing streak with a 4-3 walk-off win over then defending national champion Fresno State. CSUB went on to go 8-17 in the second half of the season to finish 13-37.

COMPLETE GAMES
Complete games are piling up for the Roadrunner pitching staff this season. Mike McCarthy and Mickey Jannis have three apiece while Matt Reyes and Jonathan Montoya have one each.

McCarthy won his first complete game, a 3-0 decision at Washington State (Mar. 28). That win over the Cougars was also the first-ever shutout win in CSUB history. McCarthy's second complete game resulted in a 4-3 loss to USC. His third came this past Tuesday in a 12-2 win over Fresno State.

Jannis won both his nine-inning affairs, a 9-5 final at Washington State (Mar. 27) and a 6-3 victory on Apr. 9 against Cal State Northridge. He also tossed eight complete innings at UC Irvine on Apr. 30, a 3-2 loss for the Roadrunners.

Reyes pitched CSUB's second-ever shutout win, a 5-0 final at Cal State Northridge (Apr. 10). He struck out four and scattered six hits in the game.

Montoya's May 4 complete-game shutout of UC Santa Barbara was the program's third-ever shutout and the sophomore's second career complete game.

ONE HIT, FIVE RBIs
Joey Mills had just one hit in the Mar. 19 win over San Jose State, but also tallied five RBIs in the game. The senior center fielder drove in two runs on a triple, then sent two runs home on a pair of sacrifice flies and one more on a bases-loaded walk.

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.

EXTRA INNINGS
The Roadrunners have played just four extra innings games in their one-plus seasons of existence. After dropping their first-ever extra inning game, a 7-6 final in 11 innings to Buffalo (Mar. 9, 2009), they came back with a 9-7, 15-inning walk-off win over UC Riverside (Apr. 11, 2009).

Through 38 games this season, the Roadrunners have played two extra-inning game, falling 8-4 to St. Mary's (CA) on Feb. 26 and 13-9 to Fresno State on Apr. 2.

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 against Air Force. Those numbers are an exact match to his performance last year in CSUB's 17-12 win over Fresno State on Apr. 7.

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.

COLLECT YOUR BASEBALL TRADING CARDS
Collect the Official 2010 CSUB Baseball Trading Card set when six different cards are being unveiled at each remaining Saturday home contests. The first 100 fans through the gate each day will receive one set of six cards. Fans looking to collect the entire set must be one of the first 100 fans at every Saturday home game.

The final card giveaway dates is Saturday, May 15 versus University of the Pacific. All Saturday games begin at 1 p.m. with gates opening at 11:30 a.m.

LITTLE LEAGUE DISCOUNT
Any Bakersfield area little leaguer 13 and under will receive $1 admission to all remaining home Sunday Roadrunner baseball games when accompanied by a paying adult. Little league players, who must be in uniform to receive the discount, may also have the opportunity to join the Roadrunners on the field for the national anthem. Visit GoRunners.com for more information.

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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