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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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Jashia Morrissey
Mark Duffel
3
UC San Diego UCSD 13-23
4
Winner CSU Bakersfield CSUB 15-20
UC San Diego UCSD
13-23
3
Final
4
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
15-20
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UC San Diego UCSD 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 7 1
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 X 4 9 0

W: Acosta, Jaykob (3-3) L: Forcucci, Ryan (0-4) S: Verdugo, Ryan (3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

`Runners Snap Skid with 4-3 win over UC San Diego

Bakersfield, Calif. - AJ Miller was 3-for-4, including his sixth home run of the season, as CSU Bakersfield slipped past visiting UC San Diego 4-3 in the series opener of a three-game Big West Conference set at Hardt Field Friday night. The Roadrunners snapped a four-game losing streak, improving to 15-20 overall and 8-5 in conference play behind a strong start from Jaykob Acosta and four excellent innings of relief from freshman Ryan Verdugo. UC San Diego lost for the eighth time in their last ten games. 

"We haven't been playing our best baseball of late, but we played a great game tonight," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "We played good defense, got good pitching performances and some timely hitting, and we beat a good team tonight. I felt great about our approach all night. We brought a lot of energy to the ballgame." 

Acosta allowed just a single earned run in the first inning, escaping an early jam when a ground ball to shortstop Aaron Casillas turned into an inning-ending double play. The sophomore right-hander allowed just three hits over his final five innings of work, striking out three and walking just one. Acosta improved to 3-3 on the year. 

The Roadrunners scored four straight runs to grab a 4-1 lead after three full innings, with AJ Miller figuring in all four. Miller finished the night 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, his sixth home run of the season, three runs driven in and a run scored. James Bell and Angel Saldivar each had two hits, with Saldivar collecting and RBI, as part of CSUB's nine-hit attack. 

The Tritons answered with a two-run home run in the sixth, but Verdugo allowed just one hit over four strong innings of relief, striking out three to earn his third save of the season. 
 
How It Happened... 
T1| Luke Saunders led off the game on a slow rolling infield single, advancing to third on a single from Jalen Smith and fly ball out recorded in centerfield, and scoring on a Marc Filia fielder's choice to shortstop.

B1 | AJ Miller crushed a home run to right-center field to give Bakersfield a 2-1 lead. Evan Rice scored on the play after leading off the inning with a hit by pitch.  

B3| Jashia Morrissey led off the inning with a base hit into right field and came around to score when AJ Miller doubled off the to of the wall in right. Miller would advance to third on the play, following a throwing error by Triton second baseman Noah Sudyka, and score on Angel Saldivar's single up the middle to make it 4-1 Roadrunners.  

T6| Austin Smith led off the inning with a walk and UCSD designated hitter Marc Filia homered on a towering fly ball to left-center pulling the Tritons within a run at 4-3.


Notable...
• Jaykob Acosta has allowed just 11 earned runs in his last 35.2 innings pitched, good for a 2.78 ERA. With tonight's outing, he lowered his season-long ERA to 3.19, second best on the team. 

• AJ Miller became the first Roadrunner to total three extra-base hits in a single game since Jacen Roberson hit for the cycle against UC Davis on April 10 of last year.

• Miller's home run was his sixth of the season and the 22nd for CSU Bakersfield, moving this year's Roadrunners into sole possession of the fourth-highest single season home run total. 

• Ryan Verdugo's four-inning save was the longest outing of his young Roadrunner career. 

• Bakersfield matched a season-high with four total doubles. The Roadrunners had four two-baggers in their season opening win over Oakland, and again in a Feb. 27 loss to Fresno State. 


On Deck...
Bakersfield and UC San Diego meet again tomorrow evening at 6:05 in game two of a three-game Big West series at Hardt Field. Roadrunner lefty Kellen O'Connor will be opposed by Triton right-hander Noah Conlon. Saturday night is student-athlete appreciation night at CSU Bakersfield, with many of your favorite CSUB student-athletes in attendance to celebrate the 2021-22 school year. CSUB Baseball tradings card set three of five will also be available to the first 250 fans in attendance, with gates opening at 4:30 p.m. 
 
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