EDINBURG, Texas--- In the second longest nine-inning game in school history, CSU Bakersfield outlasted UT Rio Grande Valley 11-6 Saturday night in game two of the Western Athletic Conference baseball series. Checking in at 3:48, only the Roadrunners-Central Michigan game which went 3:55 game on Feb. 27, 2010 in Bakersfield, went longer.

David Metzgar's one-out triple in the top of the first scored Mahlik Jones to give the 'Runners an early lead. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Drew Seelman singled. Jake Ortega worked out a walk as Seelman took off on the 3-2 count, UTRGV catcher Jacob Huckabay threw down to second, but there were no Vaqueros covering the bag, allowing Seelman to go to third.

Dustin Frailey's single scored Seelman. Frailey stole his 14th base of the season (in 16 tries) with the count 1-0 on Jones. The count moved to 2-1 before Jones hit his first career home run, a three-run blast for a five-run CSUB advantage.

The first two UTRGV batters of the bottom of the second reached on singles before Victor Garcia, Jr. grounded into a 4-6 fielder's choice, giving the Vaqueros runners on the corners. Austin Oakes doubled to left to score a pair. Anthony Gomez grounded out to short which allowed Oakes to advance to third. Jose Garcia walked to again put runners on the corners. Joseph Collazo lined out to Jones at third to conclude the inning.

Max Carter reached on an error to begin the CSUB third. He advanced to second on a Cody White single. Both moved 90 feet on a successful Ryan Grotjohn sacrifice bunt. Chance Gusbeth doubled in both Carter and White before running to third on the Vaqueros' third error of the game.  Seelman drove in Gusbeth for the eighth CSUB run of the game. UTRGV went to the bullpen and called upon Zach Martinez to relieve starter Robert Quinonez. Ortega singled off of Martinez to get Seelman to second. Frailey grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Roadrunner starter Andrew Hansen walked the bases loaded to begin the UTRGV third. Correy Davis reached on an infield error which scored one run and kept the bases loaded. CSUB got the first out of the inning on a Garcia, Jr. sacrifice fly, but the second run of the inning for the Vaqueros scored. Hansen induced Oakes into the fifth CSUB double play of the weekend (6-4-3) to get out of the frame.

UTRGV recorded the first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the CSUB fourth, needing only five pitches. Garrett Nimmo relieved Hansen to start the Vaqueros' half of the inning and walked the bases loaded. With third place batter in the Vaqueros' lineup, Cole Loncar at bat, Jones moved from third to relieve Nimmo. On Jones' second pitch, Loncar's fly ball to right was deep enough for Gomez to score and earn Loncar a sac fly. Scott Mercer's pop up to second was also deep enough to score a run and make it 8-6. Huckabay walked to give UTRGV runners on first and second. Correy Davis came to bat for the second time in the inning and his grounder to third proved to be the third out.

White singled to open the fifth and was able to head to third on a Grotjohn single. Gusbeth's grounder caught White in between third and home, resulting in an out, but kept two Roadrunners on base. Seelman struck out looking before Ortega doubled to drive in Grotjohn and Gusbeth.  Frailey kept the inning alive with a walk before Jones lined out to left.

With one out, a Carter single and a White walk created a CSUB scoring threat in the sixth. With Grotjohn up, a Huckabay passed ball put both into scoring position. Grotjohn worked out a walk to load the bases. Parker Gallegos came on in relief, giving up a Gusbeth sac fly to score Carter. Gallegos struck out Seelman to retire the Roadrunners.

Garcia, Jr. reached on CSUB's third error to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Jones struck out Oakes and got Gomez to fly out to left. He fell behind Garcia and issued a walk. Collazo grounded into a fielder's choice to second for the third out.

With one out in the eighth, Loncar and Huckabay both walked before Davis popped out. With Garcia, Jr. at the plate, a Jones wild pitch allowed both runners to move up a base. Jones would battle back and strike out Garcia, Jr. to send the game to the ninth.

CSUB had two hits in the top of the ninth but Frailey was thrown out at second trying to extend a single for the final out. After a career high five innings, Jones was relieved by Gusbeth in the bottom of the ninth. Oakes worked the count to 3-2 against Gusbeth before striking the UTRGV batter out. Gomez singled to turn the lineup over to Garcia the Vaqueros' leadoff hitter. Gusbeth fell behind to Garcia 2-1 in the count for getting him to foul out to Carter at first. Gomez made it to second on a Gusbeth wild pitch. Gusbeth went up 1-2 in the count against Collazo before retiring the Vaqueros with a ground out to first.  

Ortega went 3-for-4 with two RBI's to lead CSUB. Frailey, Gusbeth, Seelman, and White each had two hits for the Roadrunners. Gusbeth and Jones would both end up with three RBI's.

Loncar was 2-for-2 with two walks to pace UTRGV. The Vaqueros walked 11 times, the third most allowed in a game by the Roadrunners in school history. The 'Runners walked 13 Buffalo batters during the 2009 season to establish the CSUB mark.

CSUB (10-34, 5-14) concludes the series at UTRGV (19-23, 8-9 WAC) Sunday at 12 p.m. (CDT). The Roadrunners' final road game of the season is Tuesday when the 'Runners travel to nationally ranked UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m.

The Roadrunners return home May 13 against Chicago State which will begin a seven game home stand that concludes the regular season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Tickets are available through the CSUB Ticket Office at (661) 654-BLUE or tickets@csub.edu, or online at Vallitix.com.

~www.GoRunners.com~