BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—The CSU Bakersfield opens the 2015 baseball season this weekend with a three-game series against defending BIG EAST regular season champion Creighton.
For the first time in the program history, the regular season will get underway under the lights at Hardt Field on Friday night at 6 p.m. The first 500 fans through the doors will receive a 2015 baseball schedule poster. Hayden Carter (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Vista HS) will serve as the opening starter for the Roadrunners. Carter will go up against righty Jack Rogalla.
The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. Fans need to stick around after the game is concluded when one lucky fan will win a jewelry item courtesy of Knight's Jewelers' Diamond Dash. Starting on Saturday for CSUB will be right-hander Steven Gee (So., Taft, Calif., Taft Union HS) while the Bluejays will send out All-American Matt Warren. The series concludes Sunday at 12 p.m. when Hot Dogs will cost only $1. Both teams have yet to determine starting pitchers.
Tickets can be purchased online at vallitix.com.
Warren, a junior, posted a 10-1 record in 2014 with a 2.03 Earned Run Average, which was third-best in the BIG EAST. He was also selected to the Louisville Slugger® Preseason All-America second team and was a 2014 first team All-Conference selection. The Creighton offense is led by Reagan Fowler. Fowler, the reigning BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year, recently earned Louisville Slugger® Preseason All-America honors with a third team selection. A unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Conference Team, Fowler led the Bluejays with a .362 average, 16 doubles, three triples and a .464 on-base percentage in 2014.
CSU Bakersfield's Mylz Jones and Soloman Williams were selected to the preseason All-Western Athletic Conference baseball team in a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players Feb. 3.
Jones, a junior shortstop from Palmdale, Calif. (Paraclete HS), hit .300 with two home runs and 24 RBI's last season. He posted a 20-game hitting streak, the second longest in school history. Williams, a senior from Long Beach, Calif. (Golden West HS), tied the school record with two home runs and 11 total bases against Northern Colorado May 3, 2014. The 6-7 first basemen led CSUB in home runs (6) and was second on the team in RBI's (32).
Sacramento State is the preseason favorite to win the 2015 Western Athletic Conference baseball title. The Hornets received eight first place votes in the preseason survey. Grand Canyon earned the two remaining first place votes and will enter 2015 as the favorite to take second in the league table.
CSU Bakersfield, the 2014 preseason favorite, was selected third with 60 points. Seattle U earned the fourth place nod by a single point over Utah Valley while New Mexico State and Texas-Pan American tied for sixth in the preseason poll. Chicago State is predicted eighth, followed by North Dakota and Northern Colorado.
The Bakersfield baseball team returns 22 letter winners which includes eight starters to a team that was two games away from advancing to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
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