Bakersfield, Calif. - The CSU Bakersfield baseball team continues a seven game home stand when it hosts Holy Cross for a four game series at Hardt Field beginning Saturday, Feb. 29 at 1 p.m. The Roadrunners enter the weekend on the heels of a two-game winning streak and their ninth straight series victory at home. Buoyed by strong starting pitching, CSUB will look to take advantage of a Holy Cross team that has gotten off to a slow start in 2020. The Crusaders are 1-5 through two series, including a three-game sweep at the hands of national power South Carolina, and are hitting just .190 as a team coming into the weekend.
Holy Cross started slowly a year ago, as well, winning just two of their first 20 games before closing the year on a 20-14 run, growing into one of the more dangerous teams in the nation as the season progressed.
"We've got another good team coming to Hardt Field this weekend," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "Holy Cross has played two great teams to open the year and they're much better than their early record indicates. We'll have to play our best baseball if we want to grab another series win."
Aaron Charles, Ethan Skuija, Davonte Butler and Jaykob Acosta are the probable starting pitchers for Bakersfield this weekend. The `Runner quartet has combined to allow just one earned run in 32 innings pitched out of starting roles this season.
The two schools, who are meeting for the first time in program history, will play again at noon on Sunday, before closing out the series with a pair of 6 p.m. starts on Mar. 2 and 3.
SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
Holy Cross comes to Bakersfield with a 1-5 record, after being sweep at South Carolina and dropping two of three at Old Dominion. The Crusaders early road swing continues, when they kick off a stretch of eight games in nine days against the `Runners on Saturday, Feb. 29. After four games with CSUB at Hardt Field, the Crusaders will have one day off before they begin another four-game series at UC Riverside.
HC enters with a .190 batting average as a team and they'll be tested by a CSUB starting staff that has limited opposing hitters to a .158 average. Austin Masel and Cam Meyer lead the Crusaders with .273 averages and .333 on-base percentages, while Andrew Selima has three hits, a HR and 3 RBI in limited action to date.
Left-hander Luke Dawson leads the Holy Cross pitching staff with a 0.73 ERA and six strikeouts in two starts and 12.1 IP. Jack Dilauro (5.68 ERA), Liam Dvorak (3.68) and Garrett Keough (18.00) are the other likely starters for an HC pitching staff that will be all hands on deck during a busy week in California.
`RUNNER RECAP
The `Runners took 2-of-3 from San Frarncisco to improve to 4-3 this season. For the second time this year, Bakersfield lost the opening game of a series but rebounded to win the final two games behind Ethan Skuija and Davonte Butler.
Skuija and Butler have each thrown 11 innings this season, and have allowed just one earned run between them. They've anchored a CSUB staff that has posted a 2.03 ERA and a .205 average against.
Bakersfield scored 16 runs in three games with the Dons, including a season-high of eight in the middle game. Damian Henderson paced the offense, as he finished last week with a 6-for-17 stretch, including a pair of home runs. Henderson's biggest knock was a three-run, long ball in Saturday's much needed victory.
ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Now two turns through their rotation, Roadrunner starting pitchers have continued their early season dominance. Roman Angelo, Aaron Charles, Ethan Skuija, Davonte Butler and freshman Jaykob Acosta have combined to throw 36.0 innings, allowing just 3 ER and 19 hits, resulting in a 0.75 earned run average and a .158 average against.
CSUB starters ran their streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 24.0 before Ethan Skuija allowed a single ER in the third on Saturday.
Butler has been the best of the bunch, throwing 11 innings this season without allowing a run of any kind. Butler struck out a career high eight Dons to earn his second win of the season. He's limiting opposing hitters to a .158 average, while striking out nine to just one walk.
Skuija has allowed a single run in each of his two outings, good for a 0.82 ERA and a .139 opponents average. Skuija has become a reliable stopper for CSUB, pitching twice after a `Runner loss and delivering a win each time.
Acosta tossed six scoreless in his career debut against LMU. He's the favorite to grab the fourth start in this weekend's series with Holy Cross.
FOUR CONSISTENCY'S SAKE
Four Roadrunners have reached base in all seven games this season, led by junior Damian Henderson who is riding a seven-game hitting streak to open the year. Jacen Roberson, Tyler Jorgensen and Will Picketts have also reached in every game this season. Jorgensen has a hit in each of his last six games.
HOME COOKING
With the series win over the Dons, CSUB moved its home series winning streak to nine. The `Runners won all six of their home series in 2019 and haven't lost a three or four game set in Bakersfield since dropping 2-of-3 to Grand Canyon on May 4-6 of 2018. The Antelopes needed extra-innings in an 8-5 rubber match victory to escape Hardt Field with the series win.
GLOVE WORK
The `Runners have allowed more unearned runs (16) than earned runs (14) through the first seven games of the year. Part of that is the dominant pitching by CSUB starters, but part of that is a rocky defensive stretch that has plagued Bakersfield defenders. When the `Runners tighten up defensively and play up to their potential in the field, CSUB could be incredibly difficult to score against this season.
GOING DEEP
Junior Damian Henderson belted the `Runners first two home runs of the season against USF. Henderson homered in the ninth inning of CSUB's game one loss, when he turned on one and drove a fastball out to right. In the middle game, the Raleigh, N.C. native lofted one to left and got excellent carry on a three-run shot.
THE BUTLER DID IT
Davonte Butler has opened the 2020 season with 11 consecutive scoreless innings, the longest stretch of his career without allowing an earned run. Butler's previous best effort was a 9.2 inning effort from 2/22-3/8/18 in which he allowed just two unearned runs over five games.
Butler also posted a career high eight strikeouts in beating San Francisco on Feb. 23. Twice this season he has clinched a series with for the Roadrunners with a Sunday afternoon win.
CENTURY CLUB
Junior Evan Berkey made the 100th start of his CSUB career in the series finale versus Washington State. He's started more games than any other current Roadrunner. Berkey is also just seven hits shy of 100.
Teammate Daniel Carrizosa has made 85 career starts, and needs just three more appearances to hit 100 for his career.
FINDING A WAY
Junior Cody Holtz has done a little bit of everything in his quest to be productive at the plate. Holtz has scratched out three hits in ten at bats, but he's also walked five times and been hit by a pitch to rank second on the team with a .563 on-base percentage. Holtz drove in both CSUB runs in Sunday's clincher against USF without the benefit of a hit.
BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
CSUB fans have quickly become accustom to Aaron Casillas' flair for making plays on the defensive side of the ball. The rookie from Mission Viejo has seen his bat come around as well over the past five games, as well. Casillas has four hits and five RBI dating back to the finale of the WSU series.
UP TO SPEED
Freshmen Jacen Roberson and Kobe Silva eached reached base on three occasions in the team's opening day contest with Washington State. In the process they became the first `Runner freshman to reach three times in their collegiate debuts since Jeremy Rodriguez did so in 2009. Rodriguez hit the trifecta while competing in the very first baseball game in school history - an 8-7 loss to Saint Louis.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Crowds of more than 500 fans have enjoyed each game of CSUB's 4-2 home start. The `Runners drew more than 600 fans in all three WSU contests, which they managed on just two occasions in 2019.
JORGENSEN EARNS PRE-SEASON ACCOLADES
Senior infielder Tyler Jorgensen has seen the pre-season accolades rolling in on his behalf. Jorgensen, a Second-Team All-WAC selection last season after hitting .375 in league play was selected by the conference's coaches as a First-Team Pre-Season selection this season. Jorgensen was also honored as a Pre-Season All-Conference Selection by Perfect Game College and DI Baseball.
HOME IS AT HARDT
CSUB will play a grand total of 33 games at Hardt Field this season, including 15 against WAC opponents. The `Runners will play 10 of their first 11 games on campus, hosting series against Washington State, San Francisco and Holy Cross.
Later in the season, Bakersfield will host future Big West opponents UC Riverside (3 Games), Cal Poly (1), UC Santa Barbara (1) and Hawaii (1). CSUB will also host single games with Pepperdine and Loyola-Marymount this season.
PRE-SEASON WAC COACHES POLL
The Roadrunners were selected to finish sixth in the conferences pre-season poll as voted on by the league's head coaches.
Grand Canyon was the WAC's pre-season favorite, garnering two first place votes and totallying 73 points. Three other teams received at least two votes to win the conference this season, while Sacramento State led the league with four first-place tallies.
HOME BOYS
Nine members of the CSU Bakersfield baseball team grew up or attended high school in the city of Bakersfield. The group represents six local HS...
GLORY DAYS
Four pairs of `Runners attended High School together before playing for CSUB. Three of those pairs did so in Bakersfield. Roman Angelo and Gabriel Garcia are both alums of Bakersfield Christian, while Cory Blackburn and Eli Brum each attended Stockdale High School, Austin Puskaric and Kobe Silva were classmates at Frontier High School. Additionally, Tyler Jorgensen and Noah Cordova competed together at Mesquite High School in Gilbert, Arizona prior to enrolling at CSUB.
WE ARE FAMILY
Over 30 alumni returned to CSUB for the team's annual alumni game this season, as the current edition of the Roadrunners bested their elder counterparts by a score of 4-2. Five former `Runners still playing in affiliated professional baseball were among the alumni to return to Hardt Field on Feb. 1. Three of those five were 2019 draft picks, including Jake Ortega (NYM), Edgar Barclay (NYY) and Darius Vines (ATL). Mylz Jones, a 2013 draft pick of the Colorado Rockies and David Metzger a 2014 free-agent signing of the New York Yankees also attended. A sixth professional, Oscar Sanay, was also in attendance. Sanay currently plays for Monclova of the Mexican League.
BIG WEST BOUND
2020 is the final season in the Western Athletic Conference for CSU Bakersfield. Next season the Roadrunners will move to one of the better baseball conferences in America when they join the Big West. CSUB will play nine games against future conference opponents this season, including a three-game set with UC Riverside at Hardt Field on Mar. 13-16.
HOT STOVE SEASON
The Roadrunner baseball team held its annual Hot Stove Dinner on Jan. 17 at the Bakersfield Fair Grounds. This season's guest was Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Max Muncy. The event has grown into an incredible showcase of communicty support and was again a huge success in 2020. Previous guests of honor have included Orel Hersheiser, Tommy Lasorda, Clay Bellinger, Aaron Hicks and Dusty Baker.
`RUNNERS IN THE DRAFT
Twenty CSU Bakersfield baseball players have been heard their name called in the MLB Amateur Draft during the program's eleven year history. That number includes three `Runners from the 2019 team. Darius Vines, Edgar Barclay and Jake Ortega were selected by the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, respectively. Vines, a junior pitcher, became the highest draft pick in school history when Atlanta chose him in the seventh round with pick #217. Another pitcher, Barclay was chosen in the 15th round at pick #465, while catcher Jake Ortega went in round 28 and 838th overall.
CSUB MEDIA SCHEDULE
Twenty-one of CSUB's 33 home games will be broadcast on the WAC Digital Network, with play-by-play duties being handled for the third year in a row by Jason Galvin. An additional 25 games will air live on ESPN Bakersfield (101.1 FM / 1230 AM) in conjunction with Learfield Audio. Daniel Gillman, the former voice of Purdue Volleyball will serve as the voice of CSUB Baseball on the radio.
A full schedule of CSUB radio and TV broadcasts is available on www.gorunners.com.
SEASON TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE
Season Tickets for CSU Bakersfield can be purchased by calling 654-Blue or online at www.gorunners.com/tickets. Plans begin at just $190.00 for all 33 home games and will reduce in price on a sliding scale as the season progresses.
Half-season plans and 8-game flex plans are also available. The Half-season plan allows fans to purchase 16 games and choose from two options, the Weekend Plan or the Big Game plan, while the 8-game flex plan offers fans their choice of any eight home contests.
Groups of 15+ or 50+ can also contact the CSUB Ticket Office for discounted tickets when arranged at least 24 hours in advance.
Single-game tickets are also available at this time.
