BAKERSFIELD – Cory Blackburn beat a wild throw to first base and Nic Anderson-Vine raced home with the game-winning run as CSU Bakersfield outlasted visiting Kansas State to win 4-3 in 11 innings, Friday night at Hardt Field, in game one of a three-game weekend series.
"Our guys competed for every pitch tonight and that's a big win for us, in a game where we were a little light on personnel," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "The guys in the line-up stepped up, played great defense and got it done."
Blackburn finished the game 0-1, walking twice and reaching base on the game-winning error. His walk in the ninth drove in CSUB's third run and forced extra innings.
The starters were the story early. Bakersfield's Benji Caggianelli threw five innings, allowing just two hits and a pair of walks while strike out ten. Kansas State's starter Blake Adams was even better, fanning 12 `Runners over 7.2 innings of work. Neither one would last to figure in the decision.
Sophomore Gabe Ulloa earned the victory for Bakersfield, the first of his career, with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Shortstop Aaron Casillas led the offensive attack with a 2-for-3 effort, including a double and two runs scored.
CSUB improved to 2-2 with the win, while Kansas State dropped to 0-4 in the early going.
HOW IT HAPPENED...
T3 • Kansas State jumped ahead in the top of the third inning when catcher Justin Mitchell turned around a fastball and belted a solo home run to straight-away center field, making it 1-0 Wildcats.
B5 • Tyler Vargas ripped a two-strike curveball down the left-field line to score Aaron Perez and tie the score at one run a piece. Catcher Bailey Seeger followed with an RBI ground out to plate Aaron Casillas and give CSUB their first lead of the night.
T6 • Dominic Johnson doubled to lead-off the inning and came around to score two batters later on Dylan Phillips single to right.
T9 • The Wildcats went ahead in the top of the ninth when a ground ball off the bat of Orlando Salinas skipped off the lip of the infield grass and bounced away from CSUB first-baseman Kobe Silva to score the go ahead run.
B9 • Bakersfield tied the game in the bottom of the frame when Cory Blackburn worked a bases loaded walk to drive in shortstop Aaron Casillas.
B11 • The Roadrunners walked off the Wildcats in the 11th. Blackburn was the hero again, as his soft ground ball to short was thrown wide of the bag by KSU shortstop Nick Goodwin, allowing Nic Anderson-Vine to race home from third with the game-winning run.
NOTABLE...
* Third baseman Evan Rice made his career debut and singled to right-center field in his first at bat. Tyler Vargas also collected the first hit of his CSUB career with an RBI double in the fifth.
* Catcher Bailey Seeger hit a run-scoring ground ball in the fifth inning for the first RBI of his CSUB career.
* Benji Caggianelli struck out the first four batters of the game and finished with 10 in just five innings of work. Caggianelli has whiffed 17 opposing hitters in 10 innings pitched this season.
* CSUB's walk-off win was the team's first since Tyler Jorgensen belted a game-winning home run against Pacific on March 6, 2021.
QUOTABLE...
"Benji came out and established strong zone management, he's hitting that corner and pitching comfortable and confident. He gives us a good look on a Friday night."
"Big-time, grindy at bats from several guys who haven't seen many at bats this season. That's a great sign for our ball club because we don't want to rely on just a handful of guys every night. It' will mean a lot to our success if we can win games with new players stepping up each time."
- Jeremy Beard on Offensive Contributions throughout the Line-Up
ON DECK...
The Roadrunners and Wildcats meet again Saturday night at 6:05 p.m., in game two of this weekend's three-game series at Hardt Field. Adrian Santa Cruz will make his first career start for Bakersfield, opposed by Kansas State's Connor McCullough.
