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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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RomanAngeloMD
Mark Duffel
1
Pacific PAC 5-4
2
Winner CSUB CSUB 3-4
Pacific PAC
5-4
1
Final
2
CSUB CSUB
3-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pacific PAC 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 8 0
CSUB CSUB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 X 2 7 1

W: Johnson, Kenny (1-0) L: Vaughan, Jackson (0-1) S: O'Connor, Kellen (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

CSUB Sneaks Past Pacific, Splits Series

Bakersfield, Calif. – Roman Angelo threw seven strong innings and Jacen Roberson finished 4-for-4, as CSU Bakersfield won a pitcher's duel over visiting Pacific, 2-1, to split a four-game series at Hardt Field. The Roadrunners improve to 3-4 with the win, bouncing back from losses in the first two games of the weekend.

Angelo scattered seven hits and walked one in his outing, giving CSUB more than a quality start, striking out four Tigers and allowing just the one earned run. Through two starts, he now boasts a 1.50 earned run average and a .222 opponents' batting average.  

Trailing by a single run, Bakersfield rallied in the eighth, scoring twice on three hits. Roberson put CSUB on the board with his fourth hit of the game, a single through the right side, plating Aaron Casillas, who had led off the ninth with a single to center. One batter later, Konner Kinkade drove a sharp ground ball back through the box and off of Pacific pitcher Jackson Vaughn's thigh, grounding out, but picking up the game-winning RBI.

Kenny Johnson picked up the win, his first of the season, with a scoreless inning of relief.

Kellen O'Connor earned his first save of the year, bouncing back from a tough outing on Saturday.

Pacific starter Hunter Schilperoort was excellent, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings. Schilperoort whiffed seven `Runners and threw 62 of his 86 pitches for strikes.

Jorgensen capped a strong weekend with another excellent performance. He finished the day just 1-for-2, but added a hit by pitch and an intentional walk to his weekend resume.

Tigers Jeremy Lea, Alex LeForestier and Joe Fitzhugh each had two hits.

CSUB is still actively seeking games for the weekend of Mar. 12-14. If a series does not come to fruition, the `Runners will return to Hardt Field on Mar. 19, opening their first ever Big West Series, a four-game set with UC Riverside.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED…
* The `Runners played great defense early in support of Angelo. Right fielder Nick Grossman saved two Pacific runs in the first, covering a lot of ground to make a diving catch to his left on the warning track in right. Roberson followed with a run-saving catch of his own, crashing into the wall in the third to take extra bases and an RBI away from Charles Middleton.
* Catcher Cody Holtz cut down would be Tiger base stealers in both the fourth and the eighth innings.
* The Tigers opened the scoring in the seventh, when Fitzhugh doubled down the left-field line to score James Arakawa who reached on a fielder's choice one batter earlier.
* Casillas led off Bakersfield's eighth inning rally with a single to center, and advanced to second on Evan Berkey's sacrifice bunt. He reached third on Jashia Morrissey's single to center field, and scored on Roberson's base hit. Morrissey would push CSUB into the lead, when he scored on Kinkade's RBI ground out.

NOTABLE…
* Angelo settled down, tossing seven strong and striking out four. CSUB won for the second time in his two starts this season.
* Jorgensen finished the weekend 9-for-15, with a walk and a hit by pitch, for a series slash line of .600/.647/.933/1.580. He drove in six and scored two runs of his own. The highlight, obviously, was his two-run, walk-off home run in Saturday's game three.
* Roberson had four hits in Sunday's finale, the first `Runner with a four-hit game since Jorgensen, who had a quartet against California Baptist on Apr. 12 or 2020.
* Kinkade is 2-for-4 in PH opportunities this season.
* O'Connor's save was the first of his Roadrunner career.
* Cody Holtz threw out two would be base stealers, and has now thrown out three of seven this season (43%). In his career Holtz thrown out 47% of base stealers. 
 
QUOTABLE…
Head Coach Jeremy Beard

On rebounding to earn a series split with two come from behind wins...
"That's a nice way to earn a split against a very good ball club. (Pacific) will do well this year in the WCC, but our guys did a nice job of adjusting throughout the series. We worked underneath their barrels better today and that helped us be especially effective."

On what' he has learned about this CSUB roster early in the season…
"We're growing right now and getting a couple wins is so important for our development. This weekend will give our guys a lot of confidence. We're process oriented in our program, and we want to make sure that we do the right things that are needed to win games at the end of the day. This series brought that out of us, our guys worked hard in their attempt to win every pitch and every at bat."
 
Jacen Roberson

On the impact of two late inning wins…
"These wins were great! We needed them after losing the first two games, but knowing we were a better team than we had shown. Bouncing back and getting these two wins means everything for us moving forward and will push us heading into next weekend or the weekend after."

On the make-up of this year's Roadrunner baseball team…
"We're going to be a grindy team all year long. We're ready to battle and play every day like its our last."
 
Kellen O'Connor

On his closer mentality and bouncing back from a tough outing…
"It's a consistent bulldog mentality. Honestly, I can't let anything get to me or get in my way and flushing bad outings when they do happen. I try to live low in the zone and trust my stuff and I know when I do that the results will come."
 
Konner Kinkade

On his pinch-hit approach…
"Everyone on this team has a role and no matter what that role is you have to stay ready and play your part. Whatever my role is, I'm always going to do everything I can for this team and do what I need to to help us win games."
 
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