BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Fresh off its first series victory of the season, the CSU Bakersfield baseball team will host UNLV on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Hardt Field before making a cross-country trip for a three-game series at the College of Charleston this weekend.
The `Runners took three out of four games on the road against the University of Portland over the weekend and will look to carry the momentum against two teams that are a combined 21-3 on the season.
CSUB (5-8) hit .279 as a team against Portland over the weekend and were, led by
Evan Berkey who had seven hits in 16 at-bats. The freshman shortstop was on-base in half of his plate appearances and slugged an impressive .625.
Ryan Koch was also a critical piece of the offensive attack as he drove in five runs and blasted his first career round tripper.
Andrew Penner hit .313 for the series and has reached base safely in 12 straight games.
Noah Barba,
Jared Toothman, and Trent Anderson all hit over .300 for the four-game set.
On the mound,
Aaron Charles got the series off on the right foot as he tossed seven strong innings and allowed just one run to earn his first victory of the season.
Davonte Butler continued the solid starting pitching for CSUB as he allowed two earned runs in 7 1/3 innings pitched and struck out seven.
From the bullpen,
Kyle King earned Sunday's victory after allowing just two hits and no runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched.
Naithen Dewsnap earned the save in Charles' start and earned the victory in Friday's game. Dewsnap worked 4 2/3 innings in the two appearances and didn't allow an earned run.
The Rebels (11-1) will be a tough mid-week opponent for CSUB. UNLV has won eight in a row and is coming off a three-game sweep of Fresno State. There is some serious thunder in the middle of the UNLV lineup as first baseman Nick Ames has blasted five home runs this season and Kyle Isbel and Max Smith have hit four each. Ames and Isbel have each driven in 17 runs, while Isbel is leading the team in batting average (.440) and slugging percentage (.860).
As a team, the Rebels rank sixth nationally in home runs (19) and slugging percentage (.573) and ninth in doubles (31).
The College of Charleston (10-2) will be no slouch either as the Cougars swept Georgia last weekend. Leadoff hitter Dupree Hart sets the table for the Cougars with a .395 average, a .481 on-base percentage and has a team-high five doubles. Catcher Danny Wondrack provides the power for Charleston as he has a .714 slugging percentage and has blasted four homers to go with three doubles.
The Cougar pitching staff has been stellar so far this spring and has produced a team ERA of 2.58. Griffin McLarty has started three games already this season and has allowed just one earned run in 18 1/3 innings pitched. McLarty tossed a complete-game shutout against Georgia with seven strikeouts in his most recent outing. Carter Love has been the Cougars most active reliever. Love has appeared in five of the Cougars' 12 games and has picked up two wins and two saves and has yet to yield an earned run in 14 innings.
Charleston is also strong defensively, having made just nine errors and have a team fielding percentage of .980. Charleston will head to East Carolina on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting the `Runners on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
