BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--Dylan Christensen (Jr., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Saddleback College) led off the eighth inning with a solo home run and Scott Brattvet (Jr., Trabuco Canyon HS, Santa Ana College) pitched his first career complete game as CSU Bakesfield defeated UC Riverside 2-1 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader to earn a split with the Highlanders. UC Riverside took the first game 7-0.
In the opener, Jeff McKenzie (Jr., Sacramento Calif., San Joaquin Delta College) retired the first 12 hitters he faced, was hitless through four innings but gave up four runs on five hits in both the fifth and sixth innings. The Highlanders struck first in the fifth after a leadoff single by Kevin Davidson, following a sacrifice bunt and a walk, shortstop Eddi Young lifted a soft liner just passed second base to score Davidson, CSUB centerfielder Andrew Letourneau overplayed the ball leading to a second run to score as the Highlanders took a 2-0 lead.
Riverside would then grab two more in the sixth following a pair of singles and a fielder's choice. The Highlanders were able to get into scoring position after David Andriese grounded to Cael Brockmeyer (So., at first, after touching the bag, his throw to second was low putting Vince Gonzalez safe at second before a Clayton Prestridge single made it 4-0. The Highlanders scored three more in the seventh following three-straight singles with one out. The second out was recorded on a Prestridge strikeout, with the base runners in motion, Frank Martinez's (Jr., Riverside, Calif., East L.A. College) throw to third base was dropped by DC Legg (Sr.Murrieta, Calif., Cypress College) extending the inning and setting up a two-out two RBI single by Kevin Davidson.
Dylan Stuart earned his fourth win of the season for the Highlanders holding the Roadrunners scoreless for just the third time this season. Stuart went 7 innings giving up just four hits. McKenzie took the loss for CSUB to fall to 2-4 on the year giving up four earned runs on six hits while striking out two.
In the second game, CSUB would score their first run of the series in the top of the second inning as Kevin Younger led off with a double before scoring on Andrew Letourneau's (Sr., Bakersfield, Calif., Bakersfield College) two-out RBI single. Letourneau was thrown out on the play attempting to grab an extra base on the throw to the plate. The Highlanders tied the game in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by Phil Holingworth.
The game remained at a 1-1 stalemate until the top of the eight inning when Christensen led off the inning with a solo homerun to leftfield. It was the first career homerun for Christensen and the first allowed by Riverside starter Eddie Orozco who fell to 4-4 on the year with the loss.
Brattvet struck out a career-high 10 hitters while pitching out of several jams en route to his first career complete game. The 6-1 righty pitched nine innings allowing one run on seven hits, he faced five hitter with the tying run in scoring position but was able to get out of the innings with the lead.
Brattvet improves to 4-3 on the season. The Roadrunners sit at 16-17 following the doubleheader split, they'll send Taylor Aikenhead (So., Lancaster, Calif., Bakersfield College), the Division I leader in complete games (5) to the mound tomorrow, first pitch scheduled for 1 P.M.
