BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—Coming off their first WAC series victory of the season, the CSU Bakersfield baseball team hosts UC Irvine before returning to conference play at Northern Colorado this weekend.
Tuesday night's game at home against UCI begins at 6 p.m. The game will be heard on ESPN 1230 AM/98.1 FM and will be streamed on the Roadrunner Sports Network (youtube.com/CSUBAthletics). Corey Costelloe will be on the call with a radio pregame show starting at 5:45 p.m.
UCI defeated the Roadrunners 9-6 on Mar. 8 in Irvine. UCI leads the all-time series 15-2. Max Carter (R, 0-4) will get the start for CSUB. He will match up against righty Jordan Bocko (R, 0-0). The Anteaters will sport an 18-10 record as they come into Hardt Field Tuesday night. Keston Hiura leads the team in hitting (.396), home runs (7), RBI's (29), slugging percentage (.679), and on-base percentage (.489).
The Roadrunners travel to Greeley to begin the three-game set on Friday at 3 p.m. (MDT). The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. (MDT) before concluding Sunday at 12 p.m. (MDT). This will be 11th, 12th, and 13th times that CSUB and Northern Colorado will be playing baseball. The Roadrunners lead the all-time series 9-1. CSUB defeated the Bears in two of three meetings last season in Bakersfield. All games are available on UNC's “Bears Showcase” at www.uncbears.com/watch.
The Bears broke a seven-game losing streak Sunday when Northern Colorado defeated Utah Valley 8-6 in 12 innings. The Bears are 6-22, 1-5 in WAC play. Dean Lawson (.361) is the UNC leader in hitting. Cole Maltese has a team high four home runs while Brett Minnick has a team high 15 RBI's.
Andrew Hansen (2-5) will probably face Corey Nakakura (R, 2-2) on Friday. AJ Monarrez (2-4) will probably pitch against Alex Werbach (R, 0-3) on Saturday before the series concludes with a probable matchup of Chance Gusbeth (1-3) against Nick Tanner (L, 1-1).
CSUB defeated Sacramento State in two of three matchups last weekend. Delayed a day by rain, the 'Runners came from behind in Saturday's game one to defeat the Hornets 4-3. Rain postponed the conclusion of game two when Sac State defeated the 'Runners 6-3. AJ Monarrez retired the final 10 Hornets in a complete game 4-2 victory on Sunday.
Dustin Frailey posted his 13th, 14th, and 15th multiple hits during the Sacramento State series, hitting .500 over the three games. He now leads the Western Athletic Conference in batting with a .398 average.
~www.GoRunners.com~
