Riverside, Calif. – AJ Miller and Jashia Morrissey each homered and combined to drive in six runs as CSU Bakersfield finished off a sweep of UC Riverside with a resounding 12-7 victory, Sunday afternoon at the Riverside Sports Complex. Morrissey finished a double shy of the cycle as the Roadrunners won their Big West Conference opening series over UCR for the second-straight season, improving to 8-10 overall.
 
"This was a great weekend for us to get right and move past some early season adversity," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "We did the little things well, defending, bunting and running the bases, and that led to our success and power at the plate."
 
Morrissey finished 3-for-3 with a triple, a home run and two bases on balls. He scored three times and drove in a pair to lead a 13-hit CSUB attack. Not to be outdone, Miller had four hits of his own, including a long homer in the sixth, and four runs driven in.
 
Second baseman Nick Salas also had a multi-hit effort, ending his day 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of runs scored.
 
Matt Comnos earned the win in relief when he struck out four and allowed just a single hit in 2.2 scoreless innings of work. It was the first win of Comnos' Bakersfield career. Ryan Verdugo worked the final 2.1 innings to pick up the save, after entering with the tying run on deck in the seventh.
 
Riverside's Joey Magrisi was saddled with the loss and fell to 0-4.
 
Left-fielder Cole Pofek was 3-for-4 for the Highlanders and figured in five of UCR's eight runs, scoring twice and driving in three.

T2 | Bakersfield jumped ahead in the second on an RBI triple from Jashia Morrissey, scoring catcher Angel Saldivar who led off the inning reaching on an error. Morrissey scored one batter later when Aaron Casillas hit a deep sacrifice fly out to right field to make it 2-0 CSUB.
 
B2 | Riverside's Cole Pofek finished off a strong at bat with a triple off the wall in left, before coming across to score on second baseman Sean McLeod's RBI ground out.
 
T4 | Morrissey delivered again in the fourth when he jumped on a 1-0 pitch and belted his second home run of the season over the fence in right to make it 3-1.
 
B4 | The Highlander's answered immediately again, plating three in the bottom half of the fourth. Cole Pofek picked up his second hit of the day with an RBI single through the right side, and two batters later Mason Grace scored a pair with a sharp single into left-center field giving UCR its first lead at 4-3.
 
T5 | It was Bakersfield's turn to answer in the fifth. Nick Salas led off the frame with a double down the line in left and scored two batters later when Bell singled into the left-center field gap. Miller followed with a first-pitch home run well over the fence in right-center to make it 6-4 Roadrunners.
 
T6 | CSUB blew it open in the sixth with a four spot to make it 10-4. Evan Rice struck for a bases loaded double into the right-field corner and Miller followed with an RBI single down the right-field line.
 
B7 | Pofek singled in two runs in the seventh to make it 10-6 Bakersfield.
 
T8 | Miller snuck his fourth hit of the day through the right side to drive in Danny Carrizosa and two pitches later Nic Anderson-Vine hit a sacrifice fly into left field to score James Bell, stretching CSUB's lead back to six.
 
B9 | Riverside scored two final runs in the ninth when Dylan Orick doubled in a run and scored on Andrewz Melendrez' ground ball to second.

•  Jashia Morrissey reached base in his final nine at bats of the series and did not make an out in the final two games. Morrissey had five hits, including a triple and a home run, walked three times, scored five times and drove in four runs in that span.  
 
• Evan Rice's bases clearing double in the sixth extended his on-base streak to 15 games. The Bakersfield leadoff hitter has reached at least once in every game he's appeared in this season.
 
• Hitters 7-9 in the CSUB lineup were a combined 15-31 in the series with six walks, 11 runs scored and seven RBI. Morrissey was 6-for-8 with a triple and a homer, while Aaron Casillas was 5-for-10 and Nick Salas finished 4-for-11 with a pair of doubles.
 
• Matt Comnos tossed 2.2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four to earn his first career win. Seven different CSUB pitchers have combined for the team's eight wins this season.
 

Sunday's CSUB win wrapped up a six-game road swing for the Roadrunners, who return home to Hardt Field this week. Bakersfield will host Pepperdine on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m., before welcoming Utah Valley for a four-game series next weekend.