Beard Adds Pair to Baseball Coaching Staff

Bakersfield, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield head baseball coach Jeremy Beard has announced two additions to the Roadrunners staff ahead of the 2022 season. Justin Hixson will serve as the team's pitching coach after spending the last three seasons at California Baptist, while Mylz Jones returns to Bakersfield to fill the role of undergraduate assistant after retiring from AAA Albuquerque following the 2020 minor league season.

Hixson was a member of a CBU coaching staff that guided the Lancers to Division I membership. He mentored five All-Western Athletic Conference arms and helped the staff to 75 victories and league best earned run averages in 2019 and 2021.

CBU's Logan Rinehart was named the 2019 WAC Pitcher of the Year, when he finished 8-0 with 56 strikeouts, a 3.00 ERA and a .208 opponents' batting average in 54.0 innings of work.

Prior to working with the Lancers, Hixson spent three seasons as an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator with Biola University, leading a pitching staff that saw consistent improvement each year.

At Biola, he coached numerous All-Conference arms and coordinated recruiting efforts that led to three consecutive 30-win seasons.

Hixson and his wife, Mindy, have two young daughters.

"It's a pleasure to announce the hiring of Justin Hixson as a part of our coaching staff," said Beard. "Justin will hit the ground running after impacting Coach Gary Adcock's pitching staff at California Baptist. His coaching style and knowledge of the battery are exceptional. He will be a first-class mentor for our players and a great addition to our community."

Jones returns to Bakersfield after spending the past six seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization, where he hit .264 with 38 home runs and 208 RBI over 533 career games, advancing as high as AAA Albuquerque.

In three seasons as a Roadrunner, Jones hit .290 with a .349 on-base percentage with 160 career hits, 36 for extra bases. He drove in 68, scored 70 runs, and slugged .391 over 552 career at bats.

In Jones final season in Bakersfield, he helped the `Runners to a Western Athletic Championship and the program's first ever NCAA Regional appearance. He was 2-for-5 with three RBI in CSUB's WAC clinching victory over Seattle U.

"We are equally as excited about the addition of Mylz Jones as an undergraduate assistant," Beard explained. "Mylz is a high character individual with an abundance of baseball knowledge and experience. We've had our eye on him as a potential staff addition throughout his professional career and his understanding of our system will be a huge asset moving forward."

The Roadrunners won conference series against UC Riverside, Hawai'i, UC San Diego and Cal Poly during their first season in the Big West, spending much of the season among the conferences' top teams despite being picked to finish last in the 2021 pre-season coaches' poll.

Eighteen letterwinners return for the 2022 campaign, with the season slated to begin in early February.

Print Friendly Version