BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—Max Carter's (So., Bakersfield, Calif., Stockdale HS) one-out double in the bottom of the ninth proved to be the 10th and final lead change of the weekend as CSU Bakersfield defeated Northern Colorado 7-6 Sunday afternoon. With the victory, CSUB took 2-of-3 games from the Bears.

Mylz Jones (Jr., Palmdale, Calif., Paraclete HS) walked to open the bottom of the ninth. The Friday night winner, Justin Mulvaney, relieved Dylan Shiraki, the third pitcher of the day for the Bears. David Metzgar (So., Lancaster, Calif., Desert Christian HS) attempted a sacrifice bunt. He fouled off the first pitch and Mulvaney earned a called strike two. Mulvaney's slider struck out Metzgar. With count standing a 1-0, Carter doubled down the left field line. CSUB third base coach Bob Macaluso waved Jones home. Jones scored easily as the relay throw came up short.

“The hit made me feel like I was on top of the world,” Carter said. “I was trying to get Mylz over in a scoring position to allow Soloman (Williams) to drive him in. He threw a fastball in; I was able to find a hole.”

“Max has done a lot of good things for us,” said CSUB head coach Bill Kernen. “He's a really good hitter and you love having him come up in that situation. He came up big for us in that situation. I thought Mylz would score easily as I saw their leftfielder playing almost in centerfield. As far as he had to run, Mylz is faster than him. All three games this weekend have been dogfights and we were fortunate to get two of them.”

A two-out RBI single from UNC shortstop Jake Ek, a .174 hitter entering the game, broke the seal for the Bears in the top of the second. Northern Colorado (16-24, 12-9 WAC) nearly scored more with the bases loaded, but Nick Rogowski (Sr., Woodbridge, Va., Cypress College) got Jensen Park, Division I's fourth-leading hitter, to fly out to deep centerfield.

The first three Roadrunners reached base against Northern Colorado starter Nick Tanner to begin the bottom of the second. Kris Cayton (R-Sr., Manhattan Beach, Calif., LA Harbor College) singled up the middle to plate Carter to tie the game at one. Chance Gusbeth (Jr., Lancaster, Calif., Desert Christian HS) was thrown out at second attempting to advance a base. With runners on the corners, Ryan Grotjohn (So., Cave Creek, Ariz., Brophy College Prep) doubled off the top of the fence to score Soloman Williams (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Golden West College) and get Cayton to third. Logan Trowbridge (Sr., Santa Cruz, Calif., College of San Mateo) drove in Cayton with a sac fly to center. A diving catch made in left center by Park on Jordie Hein's  (Sr., Scottsdale, Ariz., Chapparal HS) liner got the Bears out of the inning.

With two outs in the top of the third, Cole Maltese doubled down the left field line. Bryan Tibbitts reached on an infield single to second, Maltese attempted to score on the play but was cut down at the plate by Williams, the CSUB first basemen throwing home on the relay. Park, the Bears' centerfield returned the favor in the bottom of the third as he threw out Jones attempting to advance to third on a Metzgar single.

For the 22nd consecutive inning in the series, Northern Colorado put a runner on board as Dan Reece singled to open the fourth. Jake Garcia doubled down the left field line to score Reece. The Bears tied the game as Ek's sacrifice bunt attempt was thrown away by Rogowski, allowing Garcia to score. Reyn Sugai sacrificed Ek to third. CSUB brought the infield in as Park came to bat. Park singled to right for a 4-3 UNC lead. It was Park's 250th career hit, resetting the Northern Colorado school record for most hits in a career. Brandon Vaughn flew out to center, but Park moved up 90 feet to third. Marco Castilla flew out to left for the final out.

Trowbridge tied the score with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. Park dropped a Hein fly ball which allowed Trowbridge to score and prolong the CSUB inning. Zach Heath relieved Tanner with the final out of the inning coming on a CSUB batters' interference.

Maltese got the fifth going with his second double of the day. Tibbitts grounded out to second which allowed Maltese to advance to third. With the infield in against Reece, the UNC batter fouled out to Trowbridge, the CSUB catcher. Rogowski struck out Garcia to get out of the inning.  

Rogowski retired the Bears in order in the sixth, the first time in 23 innings dating back to Friday night's UNC first inning that Northern Colorado went down 1-2-3. Gusbeth's second hit of the day began the CSUB sixth. With one out, a slow roller from Grotjohn to second was fielded by Sugai. Sugai tried to throw out Gusbeth, the lead runner, but his attempt went wide of the bag, allowing Gusbeth to go to third and Grotjohn to get to second. Trowbridge walked to load the bases. Hein hit ball up the middle that Ek dove for behind the second base bag. He was able to throw out Trowbridge at second, but Hein reached first in time as Gusbeth scored. Jones walked to load the bases for the second time. On the first pitch he saw from Heath, Metzgar flew out to left for the final out.

Rogowski retired seven in a row before issuing a four-pitch walk to Castilla with one out in the seventh. Maltese's single through the left side put the tying run on at first. Tibbitts doubled down the right field line to score a run and put the go-ahead run at third. CSUB drew the infield in for third time against Resse. Reese singled up the middle, scoring Maltese, but Tibbitts was thrown out at the plate (8-6-2). UNC head coach Carl Iwasaki was ejected from the game by home plate umpire Joshua Surridge for arguing the call. Garcia would ground out to short to wrap up the frame.

Williams doubled through the right side with one out in the seventh. UNC called for Dylan Shriaki to come in and face Gusbeth. Gusbeth struck out while Cayton flew out to right to keep the score tied at six.

At 139 pitches, Rogowski came out to start the ninth for CSUB and he got Castilla to ground out to short. Maltese recorded his fourth hit, a line drive through the left side. Tibbitts hit a soft grounder to second and was retired as Maltese advanced into scoring position. Reese was hit by a pitch to bring up Garcia. The UNC catcher walked to load the bases on Rogowski's 155th pitch. Garrett Nimmo (So., Temecula, Calif., Temecula Valley HS), who recorded the save Saturday night, relieved Rogowski to face Ek. Nimmo got up 0-2 in the count. On the third pitch, Ek grounded out to short.

“It was a strong effort from Nick,” Kernen said. “It wasn't a dominant performance. I've coached my whole life with the idea that I give my starting pitcher a chance to win. If they have a chance, I'm going to leave them in there. We saved pitches for each of our starters earlier in the year. There is a game or two during the year that you are going to let a starter go, I've done it with Hayden and James. They are OK. As long as there is nothing wrong physically with them. Plus for some of these guys it's going to be their last few games, I gotta give them a chance to get all of them out of it. The end came for him with that last walk. Nimmo has been really good for us; I thought they might have more of a problem with him more than Nick at that point.”

Carter and Gusbeth each tallied two hits to pace the Roadrunners. Maltese was 4-for-5 with a run scored. Tibbitts and Reese both registered two hits. For the first time all weekend, Park did not record more than one hit. He was 1-for-4 on Sunday and 7-for-11 against CSUB during the three-day span.

 “Our team is mature and they are never going to give up and never panic,” Kernen said. “We are always going to battle it out.”

CSUB (28-17-1, 14-6-1 WAC) travels to No. 6 UC Santa Barbara (34-10-1) Tuesday for a 3 p.m. start. The Roadrunners travel to first place Grand Canyon (28-20, 15-5 WAC) next weekend before returning home for the final time May 12 against the Gauchos. The game begins at 6 p.m. on May 12. Tickets are available at Vallitix.com.

~GoRunners.com~