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Tyler Jorgensen
Mark Duffel

Baseball

Baseball Continues Homestand Against Cal Poly

`Runners Look to Bounce Back in Bakersfield in Four-Game Series with Central California Rival

Bakersfield, Calif. - The Roadrunners dropped a Big West series for the first time ever, and just their second series of 2021, when they were swept by CSUN last weekend at Hardt Field. This weekend, CSU Bakersfield continues its eight-game conference homestand with four games against area rival Cal Poly, beginning Friday, May 7, at 3:00 p.m.

The `Runners will look to get back on track offensively against the Mustangs, after disappointing performances at the dish in back-to-back series with UC San Diego and CSUN. CSUB entered their series in San Diego with a .305 overall batting average, but slipped to .277 following an out of character eight-game stretch.

Two players who have not slowed down are seniors Evan Berkey and Tyler Jorgensen.

Berkey's average is up to .388 overall, and a .429 mark in conference play. He saw a career long 17-game hitting streak snapped in the series finale with CSUN. It had been tied for the longest such streak in program history.

Jorgensen, meanwhile, remains one of the most consistent offensive producers in the nation, registering at least one hit in all four games of the CSUN series. He ran his current on-base streak to 24-consecutive games and his hitting streak to 11 games.

Freshman infielder Nick Salas also carries an 11-game hitting streak into the Cal Poly series. He has 13 hits and a pair of doubles in that span.

Shortstop Aaron Casillas had a strong four games at the plate against the Matadors, registering four hits in 11 at bats (.364), including a double.

While the `Runner pitching staff was dominant in a series win over UCSD, free passes and the long ball hurt Bakersfield against CSUN. 

Aaron Charles still ranks 8th in the conference with his 3.21 ERA, while Ethan Skuija is 10th in opponents batting average at .228.

Junior Roman Angelo continues to deal, he tossed 7.0 strong in the CSUN finale, allowing just 3 H and 3 ER, losing for the first time this season.

Noah Cordova will also make a start against CP, his first since taking a loss against sixth-ranked UCSB in April of 2019, despite not allowing an earned run.

The `Runners and Mustangs have met 28 times previously, with Cal Poly holding a decided 22-6 advantage, including winning nine of the last 10.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS          
Cal Poly enters the weekend having lost five of six, to fall to 20-20 overall and 10-14 in conference play. The Mustangs have won just one Big West series all season, taking three of four from CSUN in their first league metting of the campaign. Over the past two weekends, Cal Poly has dropped three of four to UCSB and split with UC Riverside.

The Mustangs are hitting just .253 as a team, but have slugged the baseball all year long, doubling 69 times and homering 23 more in just 40 games played.

They're led by freshman phenom Brooks Lee, who has twice earned conference player of the week honors. He's slashing .333/.379/.609, with his slugging percentage tops in the league.

Matt Lopez is hitting .341 with eight doubles and a home run. He's the only other Mustang batting better than .300 on the year.

Cal Poly is one of the top pitching teams in the conference, led by starters Drew Thorpe, Andrew Alvarez and Travis Weston, who all sport ERAs of 4.01 or better and BAA's of .276 or lower. Alvarez and Weston are left-handed pitchers.

CSUB will need to run up pitch counts early, as the Mustang bullpen has not been as successful as the starters. Only right-handed relievers Dylan Villalobos (3.00) and Kyle Scott (3.34) have ERA's below 4.50 out of the pen.

CSUB and Cal Poly have not faced one another since Feb. 26, 2019, a 2-0 Mustang win at Hardt Field.

CLOSING IN            
Head Coach Jeremy Beard is closing in on 100 wins as the head coach at CSU Bakersfield. Beard has coached the `Runners since the start of the 2017 season, averaging more than 25 wins over his first three seasons in Bakersfield. The pandemic cut short the 2020 season, slowing his pursuit of triple digit victories. He has 96 wins as the `Runners bench boss.

JORGENSEN'S  STREAK CONTINUES           
Tyler Jorgensen reached base in all four games against CSUN, extending his on-base streak to 24 games, tied for 8th longest in CSUB history. The  program record for consecutive games reaching base is 37, set by current first-base coach David Metzgar.

Jorgensen has a hit in all but one of the games during this run, and currently rides an 11-game hitting streak; tied for longest on the team with freshman infielder Nick Salas.
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BERKEY'S IS BUSTED          
Senior utility man Evan Berkey had stretched his hitting streak to a personal best 17-games, before it was snapped in the series finale with CSUN. Berkey's streak was the longest active run in the Big West Conference at the time it ended, and was the longest hitting streak by a `Runner since 2017, when David Metzgar set the Bakersfield standard with his 23-game hit streak.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY       
Tyler Jorgensen leads the Big West Conference with 1.52 hits per game this season. He's recorded at least one base hit in 24 of 27 games, with multiple hits in 13 outings to date. For his career Jorgensen has collected at least one hit in 74 of 98 games played (75.5%) and reached base in 85 of 98 (86.7%). Jorgensen is also the toughest hitter to strike out in the Big West and 10th in the country.

THE TRIFECTA        
Evan Berkey leads the Big West in hitting with both his .388 overall average and .429  conference mark. He also leads the conference in on-base percentage overall (.481) and in league play (.507), while ranking second in both categories in slugging percentage.

FOR THE GLOVE OF THE GAME        
Bakersfield ranks second in both overall and conference fielding percentage among Big West opponents, with .976 and .978 FPCTs, respectively. CSUB trails only UC Irvine in each category.

COME BACK KIDS      
With a 14-13 record through 23 games played, the `Runners have already posted six victories when trailing in the sixth inning or later. 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.

All told, CSUB has trailed at some point in nine of their 14 victories.

STRIKE 'EM OUT SKUIJA        
Senior right-hander Ethan Skuija has always missed bats, but he's taken that skill to another level in 2021 and leads the Big West Conference in strikeouts per nine innings (11.93). Skuija's mark ranks 64th best in the nation. He also 10th in the conference with a .228 opponents batting average this season.

ROMAN CANDLE        
Roman Angelo's .226 career opponent's batting average is the best in school history, .025 points ahead of James Barragan's standard of .251.

JUST LIKE RIDING A BIKE        
Sophomore Jacen Roberson hit for the first cycle in CSUB program history when he finished game three against 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 drove in the GW RBI in both of CSUB's wins over UC Davis.

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 11-5 in conference play, sitting in third-place behind just UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara despite being picked to finish dead last prior to the season.

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. Lee and Stevens hail from Australia, where they were teammates on the country's 2019 U-18 WBSC Team. CSUB is the only Big West program with student-athletes from three different countries or more, including Lee and Stevens, as well as Victoria,  B.C., native Ethan Skuija.

RED DAWN                 
Outfielder Damian Henderson signed with the Cincinnati Reds following a stand-out 2020 season in Bakersfield, becoming 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        
Fifth-year seniors Noah Cordova (Environmental Resource Management) and Eric Charles (Kinesiology), and true senior Kenny Johnson (Psychology) are all working on Master's Degrees this semester.

LOCAL BOYS  MAKE GOOD          
Eight Roadrunners hail from Bakersfield, representing six local high schools, including 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.

WELCOME BACK  
Limited fans are now welcome at Hardt Field for all CSUB home games. Each student-athlete is allowed two passes for family and friends on game day, while a small number of CSUB student tickets are available through a reservation request system on GoRunners.com. At this time, general admission ticketing is not open directly to the public.

CARBON COPIES   
While attendance remains 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.

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

David Metzgar

#15 David Metzgar

INF
5' 8"
Senior
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
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
Ethan Skuija

#37 Ethan Skuija

RHP
6' 3"
Senior
R/R

Players Mentioned

David Metzgar

#15 David Metzgar

5' 8"
Senior
INF
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
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
Ethan Skuija

#37 Ethan Skuija

6' 3"
Senior
R/R
RHP
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