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Eric Charles

Baseball

`Runners Open Eight-Game Big West Roadtrip at Hawai'i

Bakersfield, Calif. - Following a split with UC Davis, CSU Bakersfield begins an eight-game road trip with a four-game series at Hawai'i, in Honolulu. The Roadrunners have won seven of their last ten games and head to the islands with an 8-7 overall record and a 5-3 mark in Big West Conference action.

Bakersfield dropped the first two games against UCD, but shook off the rust to close out the series with a pair of victories. Sophomore Jacen Roberson was the start of game three, finishing 4-for-5, hitting for the cycle and driving in the game winning run in a 14-4 win. He also drove in the game winning run in game four when CSUB's came from behind to split the series.

Roberson finished the weekend slashing .444/.444/1.056, with three doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs. He's now hitting  .356 on the year, while reaching base at a .435 clip with 10 extra base hits in 15 games.

Tyler Jorgensen leads the `Runners with a .426 average. He has at least one hit in 13 of 15 games this season, and multi-hit efforts on nine occasions.

Senior Evan Berkey raised his average to .386 with seven hits against UC Davis. He has three home runs in his last 18 at bats, the first round trippers of his CSUB career.

Overall, Bakersfield is hitting .306 as a team, tops in the Big West, with an .816 on-base plus slugging percentage.

The pitching staff lowered its earned run average to 5.59, after allowing just 14 ER in 36 innings pitched against the Aggies.

Junior starter Roman Angelo put together his fourth-straight strong outing with six innings of four-hit ball in the series finale with UCD. The `Runners are 4-0 in Angelo's starts this season.

Senior right-hander Aaron Charles was scratched from a Saturday start against UCD, but returned to pick up the save in game four, striking out both batters he faced. He'll return to the rotation against Hawai'i, getting the start in game two.

Bakersfield has won four-of-five games in the all-time series with the Rainbow Warriors. CSUB won the final three games of a four-game series at Hawai'i in 2019, the last meetings between the two schools.

SCOUTING THE RAINBOWS          
Hawai'i enters the weekend winners of three of their last five games, including taking 3-of-4 from UC Riverside last weekend on the road. The CSUB series is the start of an eight-game homestand for the Rainbow Warriors at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.

The `Bows have gotten great pitching from their staff this season, ranking third in the conference with a 3.87 ERA.

Starters Aaron Davenport and Austin Teixeira set the tone for the UH pitching staff, and boast ERA's of 2.85 and 2.76, and opposing averages of .230 and .240, respectively. Davenport has struck out 55 opponents in 47.1 IP against just eight walks.

Shortstop Kole Kaler is the team's leading hitter (.355), and the reigning Big West Player of the Week. Kaler has 10 extra-base hits and has scored 22 runs, while driving in 16.

Outfielder Scotty Scott is the only other Rainbow Warrior hitting over .300, with a .304 average and a .473 on-base percentage. As a team UH is hitting .281 and scoring six runs per game.

Hawai'i is 15-11 overall and 7-9 in Big West games.

JUST LIKE RIDING A BIKE        
Sophomore Jacen Roberson hit for the first cycle in CSUB program history when he finished game three versus UC Davis 4-for-5, with three runs scored and six RBI. Roberson doubled in the first inning, hit a grand slam home run in the second, tripled in the sixth and singled in the eighth to make history. The Bakersfield native raised his season average to .356 against UCD, driving in the GW RBI in both CSUB wins.

BLUE STREAK      
Senior first-baseman Tyler Jorgensen had at least one hit in all four games against UC Davis, finishing 5-for-17 with a double, to extend his current hitting streak to 12 games.

Its the longest hitting streak of Jorgensen's CSUB career, surpassing an 11-game streak in 2020. Its also tied for the 11th longest hitting streak in program history.

The Gilbert, Ariz., native is hitting .480 over the past 12 games with 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 15 runs batted in, including the 100th base hit and 50th RBI of his CSUB career on Apr. 21 against UCR.

Jorgensen ranks 17th nationally with his .426 batting average.

POWER SURGE              
After hitting just two home runs during the abbreviated 2020 campaign, the `Runners have already connected for 11 in 15 games this season.  Jacen Roberson & Evan Berkey lead the club with  three long balls on the year, while Tyler Jorgensen has a pair.

Berkey has three home runs in his last 18 at bats, after starting his career without a home run in his first 400 trips to the plate.

GRAND DESIGN              
Nick Grossman hit the second home run of his career on Apr. 20th against UC Riverside, lifting CSUB to a 7-1 win. Both of Grossman's career HR are grand slams. He also homered with the bases loaded on March 10, 2019, in a 5-4 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.

The senior is hitting .354 this season, with 11 RBI and a .456 on-base percentage.

TO CATCH A THIEF      
CSUB catchers Cody Holtz and Angel Saldivar have continued to showcase their arm talent behind the plate for the Roadrunners, cutting down 45.8% of would be base stealers this season (11/24). Dating back to the beginning of the 2020 campaign, the `Runner catchers are throwing out 50% of opponents on the move (18/36).

ROMAN EMPIRE      
Roman Angelo may only be 1-0 as a Bakersfield's Sunday starter this season, but the Roadrunners are 4-0 in his four starts.

Angelo has pitched at least 5.0 innings in each of his starts, allowing just seven ER in 23.0 IP, for a 2.74 earned run average. He sports a .230 opponents average, while striking out 20 and walking eight.

His career opponents' batting average of .224 is a school record by .027 points.

CENTURY CLUB      
CSUB pitchers Davonte Butler and Ethan Skuija each struck out the 100th batter of their careers in the series with UC Davis.

Butler struck out two Aggies over a 4.0 inning stint in game one, allowing one hit and an unearned run. He now has 101 career strikeouts.

Skuija has 104 career whiffs, including 15 in 12.1 innings pitched this season.

COME BACK KIDS      
In just 15 games, the `Runners have already posted three victories when trailing after seven innings of play. The most notable was a Mar. 19, come from behind win over UC Riverside, when CSUB rallied from down 9-0 to win 15-9.

Bakersfield also came from behind to beat Pacific 2-1 on Mar. 7, when they scored twice in the bottom of the eighth, and when the scored five-times in their last at bat to beat UC Davis 5-2.

CSUB also beat Pacific 10-9, overcoming an 8-8 tie in the seventh and a 9-8 ninth inning deficit, on Tyler Jorgensen's walk-off, two-run homer.

WILD WILD WEST      
The 2021 season is CSUB's first as a member of the Big West Conference, one of the elite leagues in all of college baseball. The `Runners are currently 3-1 in conference play, sitting in third-place behind just UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. Bakersfield won its first-ever Big West series with a 3-1 advantage over UC Riverside. 

THEY COME FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER          
Freshmen Jack Lee and Jo Stevens are the first non-North American student-athletes to suit up for CSUB Baseball. Both Lee and Stevens hail from Australia, where they were teammates on the country's 2019 U-18 WBSC Team.

Stevens became the first non-North American to appear in a CSUB Baseball game, when he entered as a pinch hitter on Mar. 6, versus Pacific. The following day he became the first non-North American to start, when he earned the nod at third base.

Lee made his debut on Mar. 6 as well, becoming the first non-North American to appear on the mound, when he came out of the bullpen to pitch 1.2 innings and collect  the win.

RED DAWN                 
Outfielder Damian Henderson signed with the Cincinnati Reds following a stand-out 2020 season in Bakersfield. Henderson led the `Runners in nearly all offensive categories last season. He is the 23rd Roadrunner to sign a professional contract after his collegiate playing career, and the third as a free-agent, in the program's 12-year history.

THE MASTERS        
Three `Runners are taking graduate level courses this year. Seniors Noah Cordova and Eric Charles are both taking advantage of the NCAA's COVID-related eligibility ruling and returned this season to begin pursuit of their master's degrees. Classmate Kenny Johnson was able to complete his undergraduate degree last Spring, thanks to a redshirt in 2018. Cordova is pursuing a degree in Environmental Resource Management, while Charles and Johnson are studying Psychology and Kinesiology, respectively.

LOCAL BOYS  MAKE GOOD        
Eight Roadrunners hail from the city of Bakersfield, representing six local high schools, including one set of high school teammates in Stockdale's Cory Blackburn and Eli Brum. Newcomers Art Joven and Nick Salas each attended Highland, but did not play together. Additionally, Roman Angelo (Bakersfield Christian), Aaron Charles (Ridgeview),  Jacen Roberson (Garces Memorial), Kobe Silva (Frontier) are all local products.

CARBON CUTOUTS      
While attendance is limited for CSUB home games this season, the Bakersfield community has ensured that Hardt Field will be sold out in spirit, purchasing more than 800 fan cutouts to be displayed in the Hardt Field grandstand this season. For more information on purchasing a cutout of your own, visit www.gorunners.com/cutouts.

WATCH & LISTEN        
All 28 Roadrunner home games will be carried live on local radio (101.1 FM / 1230 AM) and available online at www.bakersfieldespn.com. Additionally, all CSUB home contests will be live streamed on WATCHESPN & the ESPN APP.
 
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Players Mentioned

Roman Angelo

#40 Roman Angelo

RHP
6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
Evan Berkey

#1 Evan Berkey

IF
5' 11"
Junior
R/R
Cory Blackburn

#11 Cory Blackburn

OF
5' 10"
Redshirt Freshman
R/R
Aaron Charles

#25 Aaron Charles

RHP
6' 5"
Redshirt Junior
R/R
Eric Charles

#8 Eric Charles

OF
6' 0"
Senior
L/L
Noah Cordova

#33 Noah Cordova

RHP
6' 5"
Senior
R/R
Nick Grossman

#3 Nick Grossman

OF
6' 0"
Senior
L/R
Damian Henderson

#22 Damian Henderson

OF
6' 1"
Junior
L/L
Kenny Johnson

#35 Kenny Johnson

RHP
6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
R/R
Tyler Jorgensen

#10 Tyler Jorgensen

INF
6' 2"
Senior
L/R
Jacen Roberson

#16 Jacen Roberson

OF
6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
L/L
Angel Saldivar

#31 Angel Saldivar

C
5' 9"
Redshirt Freshman
R/R

Players Mentioned

Roman Angelo

#40 Roman Angelo

6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
Evan Berkey

#1 Evan Berkey

5' 11"
Junior
R/R
IF
Cory Blackburn

#11 Cory Blackburn

5' 10"
Redshirt Freshman
R/R
OF
Aaron Charles

#25 Aaron Charles

6' 5"
Redshirt Junior
R/R
RHP
Eric Charles

#8 Eric Charles

6' 0"
Senior
L/L
OF
Noah Cordova

#33 Noah Cordova

6' 5"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Nick Grossman

#3 Nick Grossman

6' 0"
Senior
L/R
OF
Damian Henderson

#22 Damian Henderson

6' 1"
Junior
L/L
OF
Kenny Johnson

#35 Kenny Johnson

6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
R/R
RHP
Tyler Jorgensen

#10 Tyler Jorgensen

6' 2"
Senior
L/R
INF
Jacen Roberson

#16 Jacen Roberson

6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
L/L
OF
Angel Saldivar

#31 Angel Saldivar

5' 9"
Redshirt Freshman
R/R
C
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