BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--Hayden Carter (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Vista HS) got 20 ground ball outs as the CSU Bakersfield right-hander led the Roadrunners to a 4-2 victory over Wagner in the series opener between the two schools Friday night. Carter allowed six hits in recording his third career complete game. Carter struck out three and allowed one walk, tossing 124 pitches, 83 for strikes.

CSUB first baseman Max Carter (So., Bakersfield, Calif., Stockdale HS) recorded 16 putouts, the third most in a game by a Roadrunner player.  Mylz Jones (Jr., Palmdale, Calif., Paraclete HS), CSUB's shortstop made eight assists, tying him with JJ Henry (at TCU, May 22, 2010) for the third most in a game by a Roadrunner. David Metzgar (So., Lancaster, Calif., Paraclete HS), the 'Runner second baseman, had four putouts and six assists.

“This was a dominant performance by Hayden,” said CSUB head coach Bill Kernen. “He had really good stuff from the beginning and threw strikes. Our defense picked the ball up for him.”

After a pair of two-out walks issued by Wagner starter Matt Morris in the bottom of the first, Chance Gusbeth (Jr., Lancaster, Calif., Desert Christian HS) smacked a triple to center to plate Jones and Solomon Williams (R-Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Golden West College).

“You want to score first if you can,” Kernen said. “The reason that was such a big deal was that we had two outs, nobody on, and two strikes on our hitter and we rallied from there. To be able to put an inning together like that when you are down to your last strike in the inning is really significant.”

Brendan Benecke's two-out RBI single in the fourth made it 2-1 in favor of the Roadrunners.  CSUB loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth to bring up Metzgar. Metzgar singled through the left side to score a run. Morris was pulled in favor of Nathan Hunt. Hunt's first batter was Jones who walked for an RBI.

Benecke led off the seventh with a double. He moved to third when Tommy Mazurkiewicz grounded out to short. Benecke then scored when Phil Dickinson grounded out to second.  With one out in the eighth, Trey Nicosia doubled, but Carter struck out Nick Dini for the second out and got Jason Gordon to ground into a fielder's choice to conclude the inning.

CSUB opened the bottom of the eighth with a pair of walks.  The fourth Wagner pitcher, lefty Nick DiLeo entered to face the left-handed hitting Jordie Hein (Sr., Scottsdale, Ariz., Chapparal HS). DiLeo got the speedy Hein to ground into a double play as Logan Trowbridge (Sr., Santa Cruz, Calif., College of San Mateo) advanced to third. With two outs in the ninth, Mazurkiewicz reached on an infield single. Dickinson grounded into a fielder's choice to Jones, the CSUB shortstop to end the game.

Joey Sanchez (So., Pico Rivera, Calif., El Rancho HS) singled for one of the five Roadrunner hits and charted three of the nine CSUB walks. Sanchez is now hitting .526 on the season. Beneke was the only player on either team to have more than one hit as he went 2-for-4.

“Joey came into the game with a .654 on-base percentage and it went up,” Kernen said. “He is just playing great right now.”

The series between CSUB and Wagner continues Saturday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Tickets are available at Vallitix.com.

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