BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—The CSU Bakersfield baseball team has a big week ahead on the road as the Roadrunners take on No. 6 UC Santa Barbara Tuesday before traveling to WAC leader Grand Canyon this weekend.
On Tuesday, CSUB (28-17-1, 14-6-1 WAC) heads to Santa Barbara for the first of two consecutive Tuesday games against the Gauchos. This week, the game in Santa Barbara will begin at 3 p.m. The Gauchos travel to CSUB on May 12. The all-time series is tied at 6 after UC Santa Barbara swept a pair of games last season.
The Gauchos are ranked sixth in the NCWBA Top 30, seventh in the D1Baseball.com Top 25, 11th in Baseball America Top 25, and 13th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll. UC Santa Barbara is 34-10-1 after sweeping a three-game series from UC Davis last weekend at home. UCSB has a NCAA RPI rating of 15 to begin the week.
Cameron Newell leads the team in hitting (.374), home runs (3), and is second on the team in RBI's (26). Domenic Mazza (L, 5-0, 2.31 ERA) is expected to start against AJ Monarrez (R, 0-0, 5.84 ERA).
The Roadrunners open the series against the Antelopes Friday night at 6:30 p.m. The series continues Saturday at 6:30 p.m. before wrapping up Sunday at 12 p.m. Grand Canyon is expected to send Coley Burns (R, 7-2, 3.98 ERA) to the hill to face Hayden Carter (R, 6-3, 2.53 ERA) on Friday. The Antelopes should send Andrew Naderer (L, 3-6, 5.29 ERA) out to face James Barragan (R, 7-3, 2.29 ERA) on Saturday. Sunday's finale should see GCU's Jake Repavich (L, 7-2, 4.52 ERA) pitching against Nick Rogowski (3-4, 4.17 ERA).
Grand Canyon leads the WAC with a 15-5 record. GCU is 28-20, 15-5 in WAC play. GCU is the conference leader in hitting (.311). The Antelopes won 2-of-3 games against CSUB in Bakersfield last season during the first meetings between the two schools in baseball.
Chad De La Guerra was selected WAC Hitter of the Week May 4. Del La Guerra led the Lopes to a 4-1 week, including a two-game sweep at nationally-ranked Texas Tech. He was 11-for-23 on the week for a .478 average, knocking three home runs and driving home nine RBIs on the busy week. His biggest game came in Sunday's series-finale with Seattle U, going 4-for-6 with five RBIs and two runs scored as GCU won in 13 innings.
Paul Panaccione leads the conference in hits (78) and runs scored (53). He is third in the WAC in hitting (.400). De La Guerra leads the league in home runs (11), RBI's (48), and total bases (106).
The Roadrunners are a one game out of first place in the WAC with a 14-6-1 league record. Grand Canyon took 2-of-3 from third place Seattle U (14-7) over the past weekend and leads the conference with a 15-5 record. GCU is ineligible for the WAC Tournament due to their transition to Division I.
Sacramento State, North Dakota, and Northern Colorado (12-9) are tied for fourth. Utah Valley (11-10). New Mexico State (5-15-1), Chicago State (4-15-1), and Texas-Pan America (3-17-1) round out the standings. SU and CSUB would receive the first round byes in the tournament that begins Wednesday May 20 in Mesa, Ariz.
CSU Bakersfield's Garrett Nimmo has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Apr. 27 – May 3.
Nimmo, a sophomore right-hander from Temecula, Calif. (Temecula Valley HS), pitched eight innings on the week but came out of those games with two wins and a save to help Bakersfield to a non-conference win over Cal Poly and a series win over Northern Colorado.
Against Cal Poly, he came in early in relief and struck out nine batters over seven innings to earn the win. He didn't allow a hit the rest of the week, pitching two-thirds of an inning in a 6-5 win on Saturday to earn the save and then earning the win after just one-third inning pitched in Sunday's 7-6 walk off win.
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