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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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EricCharlesMD4
Mark Duffel
2
Washington State WSU 1-1
3
Winner CSU Bakersfield CSUB 1-1
Washington State WSU
1-1
2
Final
3
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
1-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Washington State WSU 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 2
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 9 1

W: O'Connor, Kellen (1-0) L: Rosenkrantz, Hayden (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Charles' RBI Gives `Runners Walk Off Win

Bakersfield Scores Single Runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th to Come From Behind and Earn First Victory of 2020



Bakersfield, Calif. – Eric Charles laced an 0-1 fastball to centerfield in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring Will Picketts from second base and giving the CSU Bakersfield baseball team its first win of the 2020 season. When Picketts slid across home plate the Roadrunners slid past visiting Washington State 3-2 in the second game of a three-game set. CSUB is now 1-1 in the early going, with the two teams scheduled to meet in the series' rubber match tomorrow at noon.
 
The `Runners trailed 1-0 heading into the seventh inning and then saw their 2-1 eighth inning lead evaporate before Charles came off the bench to deliver the game-winning at bat.
 
"We showed great character with our resiliency today," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "We talk a lot about winning the late innings and we got runs in each of the last three innings today. The ability to bounce back, to win close games is so important and today was a big win for our team."
 
Freshman Kobe Silva doubled for the second straight day with one down in the seventh, before giving way to pinch runner Cory Blackburn. Two batters later, preseason All-WAC selection Tyler Jorgensen picked up his first RBI of the campaign when his bloop down the left-field line saw Blackburn race home tying the game 1-1.  Bakersfield scored again in the eighth to take the lead when senior Damian Henderson muscled a ball through the infield to score Aaron Casillas.

Both run scoring singles came with two outs, as the `Runners recorded a number of timely hits in the win just one day after leaving ten men on base in a 5-2 loss.

After WSU tied the game in the top of the ninth, Picketts led off the bottom half of the inning with a sharp single to left on the first offering he saw from Cougar reliever Hayden Rosenkrantz. Picketts advanced to second on Jorgensen's sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate with the game winning run following Charles' line drive base hit two batters later.
 
Ethan Skuija pitched five strong innings in his first start of the season. The Victoria, B.C., native fanned three and allowed just two hits across five innings of work. He surrendered just one unearned run, which came on an infield single in the third.
 
Washington State starter AJ Brock was excellent as well. Brock scattered six hits and struck out four `Runners, carrying a shutout into the seventh inning. He exited after seven, allowing just the one earned run.
 
Kevin Altamirano relieved Skuija to start the sixth inning and held WSU to three hits over 2.1 strong innings of relief.

Freshman Kellen O'Connor entered made his first career appearance when he entered with one on and one away in the top of the eighth. He induced a pair of ground outs to strand WSUs Nick Manzardo at second. O'Connor surrenderd the tying run in the ninth when an RJ Lan ground ball snuck through the infield to plate last night's hero Garrett Gouldsmith, but he limited the damage to one and picked up his first career win when Charles plated Picketts to end the game.

"My approach was to be on time for a fastball and drive the ball," said Charles, when asked about his thought process at the plate in the critical situation. "I wanted to find the way to help the team get a win."

"(Bouncing back from yesterday's loss) shows how much heart we have on this team and how committed we are to doing whatever it takes to find a way to win for each other." he added.
 
Picketts, Jorgensen and Jacen Roberson each collected a pair of hits for CSUB, while Collin Montez had two knocks for the Cougars.
 
The two schools will wrap up their season opening three game set with a rubber match set for noon on Sunday. A Bakersfield win would even the all-time series with Washington State at five wins a piece.
 
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