Bakersfield, Calif. - The CSU Bakersfield baseball team embarks on its first extended road trip of the 2020 season when they head north to begin a four-game set at Santa Clara on Friday, Mar. 6 at 6 p.m. The two clubs will square off four times in three days, with a double header slated to begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday's finale scheduled for noon. The Roadrunners fell to 5-6 on the season after losing two straight to Holy Cross earlier this week, while the Broncos enter the series with a 9-5 overall mark, including impressive wins over Georgia and Stanford.
"We know we're facing a challenge at Santa Clara and we have to be ready to play our best baseball," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy.Beard. "They're a very talented team and they've had some early success against a tough schedule. I think we've done a lot of things well against strong competition as well. We've been tested and I'm excited to see if we can build off of the successes we've had to date."
The `Runners lead the all-time series between the two schools 8-2, after winning three of four games in a series at Hardt Field in 2019.
CSUB's starters, who have been so strong to start this season, enjoyed great success in last year's series. Roman Angelo, Davonte Butler and Ethan Skuija combined to throw 18 innings against the Broncos last season, allowing just 12 hits, two earned runs and striking out 19. Skuija was the best of the bunch, tossing a complete game four-hitter and striking out 11 in a 3-1 win.
After four games with SCU, Bakersfield will wrap up its five-game road trip with a single game at UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Mar. 10, before returning home for a three game series with future Big West rival UC Riverside the following weekend.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS Â Â Â Â Â Â
Santa Clara enters this weekend's series with a 9-5 record following a split of a four-game set with Sacramento State. The Broncos have won four of their last six games, dating back to an 8-4 win at the University of Georgia on Feb. 22. ​
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Santa Clara is off to a fast start, despite playing just three home games in its first 14 outings. SCU is 3-0 at home, including a 3-2 win over local rival Stanford and last Tuesday's 8-5 victory against Cal Poly. ​
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The Broncos are led by five senior starters, including catcher Jake MacNichols who is hitting .278 with .667 slugging percentage and six home runs in just 54 at bats. Classmate Ryan McCarthy leads SCU in batting average, hitting .333 with six extra-base hits and 13 RBI, while another senior, Jake Dicochea is batting .316 with six doubles on the season. ​
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Seven different Broncos have made starts on the mound in 2020, led by Freddie Erlandson and Matthew McGarry with three a piece. Erlandson is yet to allow a run over 11.1 IP, while McGarry has surrendered just seven hits in 12.0 IP, striking out a batter an inning. ​
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Russell Grant, Travis Howard and freshman Cole Kitchen have all made two starts. ​
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`RUNNER RECAP         ​
The `Runners streak of ten straight home series victories ended when they dropped three of four to visiting Holy Cross. Bakersfield jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the series finale, but the Crusaders grabbed three in the fourth and four in the fifth to deny CSUB a series split. ​
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Bakersfield evened the series at 1-1, when Ethan Skuija tossed six strong innings and struck out nine in a 7-3 win last Sunday. The Crusaders bounced back with consecutive wins thanks to a hot hitting line-up that pounded out 12 doubles over the final two games of the series. ​
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CSUB will look to get back on track when it plays its first road series of the year, with this weekend's four-game set at Santa Clara.
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Bakersfield's first extended road trip of the season continues on Tuesday, Mar. 10 when the `Runners head to UC Santa Barbara for a midweek contest, before returning home for three with future Big West rival UC Riverside. ​
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THOU SHALT NOT STEAL      ​
Redshirt freshman Angel Saldivar returned to the CSUB line-up after missing seven games with an injury to his throwing and promptly threw out the very first would be base stealer he saw. ​
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Saldivar and junior Cody Holtz have all but eliminated opposing running games in the early going, cutting down six of nine stole base attempts (67%). ​
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Saldivar has thrown out 2-of-3, while Holtz has gunned down 4-of-6 base runners attempting to steal. ​
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BUTLER, CHARLES APPROACH INDIVIDUAL MILESTONES     ​
Junior hurlers Davonte Butler and Aaron Charles are each approaching individual milestones in their CSU Bakersfield careers.​ Butler is just six strikeouts shy of 100 for his CSUB career, after whiffing 16 opponents in 15.2 IP this season. Butler opened the year with 12-straight scoreless innings before faltering late in a loss to Holy Cross. Butler could crack the 100 K plateau this weekend with a start at Santa Clara. ​
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Charles is just one-third of an inning shy of hitting the 100 IP  mark in his third season at CSUB. Charles has tossed 14.0 innings this season with a 3.21 earned run average and a .275 opponents batting average. ​
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WERE GOING STREAKING       ​
Senior Tyler Jorgensen and junior Damian Henderson are each riding 11-game on-base streaks to open the 2020 season. Jorgensen is also in the midst of a ten-game hitting streak, after posting  an 0-3  in the season opener against Washington State. Henderson also has a hit in ten of the team's 11 contests and had his nine game hitting streak snapped in CSUB's 16-2 loss to Holy Cross. ​
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GROSSMAN GETS GOING      ​
Senior Nick Grossman has raised his batting average more than 100 points over the past seven games. Grossman opened the season just 2-for-13 (.153), but has hit .333 across series with San Francisco and Holy Cross to raise his batting average to .265. In that span, Grossman is 7-for-21 with a triple, two RBI and ten runs scored. He's also walked  eight times and been hit by a pitch for a .533 on-base percentage, while stealing two bases. ​
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HENDERSON STAYS HOT      ​
The only player hotter than Grossman, has been junior Damian Henderson. Henderson leads the `Runners in batting average (.381), on-base percentage (.500), slugging (.643), hits (16), triples (2), home runs (2), RBI (10) and total bases (27). ​
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Henderson has reached base in every game this season and has a hit in 10 of CSUB's 11 contests. The Raleigh, N.C., native has four multi-hit games already, including his second three-hit effort in the series finale with Holy Cross. ​
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100 BAGS FOR JORGENSEN      ​
Senior Tyler Jorgensen has been one of the most consistent hitters in the WAC over the past two seasons, posting 76 hits and 94 total bases over 68 games the past two years. With six more bags, Jorgensen will become the second active Roadrunner with more than 100 total bases. ​
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Senior Evan Berkey is the team's career leader with 113 total bases over 2-plus seasons. ​
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THE CLOSER      ​
Senior Noah Cordova has been lights out in the Roadrunner bullpen, currently sporting a 0.00 ERA and a .056 opponents batting average while tying for the team lead in appearances this season. ​
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Cordova has allowed just one hit and 2 unearned runs in 5.2 IP, while striking out four. ​
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SKUIJA THE STOPPER       ​
Senior Ethan Skuija has embraced the role of stopper for CSUB early in 2020. On three occasions already, the Victoria, B.C., native has been called upon to take the ball following a Roadrunner loss and on three occasions he has delivered a high-end performance and a Bakersfield win. ​
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Skuija has thrown a team-leading 17.0 innings to date, scattering 11 hits and striking out 18 opponents to just four walks. ​
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Skuija's boasts a 2.12 ERA, with a 0.88 WHIP and a .186 opponents batting average over his first three starts in 2020. In his last outing versus Holy Cross, Skuija surrendered three first inning runs, before buckling down to shutout the Crusaders, striking out nine, over his final five innings of work. ​
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Skuija's best career outing came last season, in a complete game, 11 strikeout effort against Santa Clara. He allowed just four hits in a 3-1 Roadrunner win. ​
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ACOSTA ANNOUNCES ARRIVAL      ​
Freshman Jaykob Acosta followed up a six inning scoreless debut at LMU, with 3.2 innings and one earned run allowed in the series finale with Holy Cross. All told, Acosta kicked off his `Runner career with nine straight scoreless innings pitched. ​
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The Exeter, Calif., native has a 0.93 earned run average and has limited opposing hitters to a .265 batting average in his first two starts. ​
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EVEN STEVEN       ​
Bakersfield is an even 5-5 in its last ten meetings with West Coast Conference opponents, a mark that includes a 3-1 effort against Santa Clara in a four-game series at Hardt Field during the 2019 campaign. ​
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CENTURY CLUB       ​
Junior Evan Berkey made the 100th start of his CSUB career in the series finale versus Washington State, while teammate Daniel Carrizosa made his 100th appearance during the Holy Cross series. ​
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UP TO SPEED         ​
Freshmen Jacen Roberson and Kobe Silva each 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.​
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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. ​
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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. ​
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Jorgensen was also honored as a Pre-Season All-Conference Selection by Perfect Game College and DI Baseball. ​
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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. ​
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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. ​
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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.​
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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. ​
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2020 Pre-Season Coaches Poll: ​
1 Grand Canyon (2)             73​
2 Sacramento State (4)         71​
3 NM State (2)                      66​
4 UT Rio Grande Valley (2)  55​
California Baptist                  55​
6 CSU Bakersfield                 39​
7 Seattle U                           35​
8 Utah Valley                        29​
9 Northern Colorado             18​
10 Chicago State                   9  ​
HOME BOYS         ​
Eight members of the CSU Bakersfield baseball team grew up or attended high school in the city of Bakersfield. The group represents six local HS... ​
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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. ​
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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. ​
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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. ​
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The event has grown into an incredible showcase of community 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. ​
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`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. ​
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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. ​
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Vines, a junior pitcher, became the highest draft pick in school history when Atlanta chose him in the seventh round with pick #217. ​
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Another pitcher, Barclay was chosen in the 15th round at pick #465, while catcher Jake Ortega went in round 28 and 838th overall. ​
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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. ​
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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.  ​
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A full schedule of CSUB radio and TV broadcasts is available on www.gorunners.com. ​
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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. ​
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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.​
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Groups of 15+ or 50+ can also contact the CSUB Ticket Office for discounted tickets when arranged at least 24 hours in advance.​
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Single-game tickets are also available at this time.
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