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Bakersfield, Calif. - CSU Bakersfield embarks on its final road trip of the 2022 season, traveling to UC Irvine for a three-game Big West Conference series beginning Friday, May 20 and continuing through May 22, at UCI's Cicerone Field. The Roadrunners will look to avenge a 3-1 series loss to the Anteaters at Hardt Field in 2021.

CSUB dropped two out of three games against Long Beach State a weekend ago, losing a late lead in Sunday's series deciding game three. The 'Runners are now 3-5 in Big West series, with a 10-14 record in league games.

Bakersfield pitched to a 4.00 earned run average against the Dirtbags, allowing only 12 earned runs and striking out 25 in 27.0 innings pitched. Sunday starter Adrian Santa Cruz pitched 6.2 innings without allowing an earned run, lowering CSUB's season-long starter ERA to just 4.77.

Jaykob Acosta made his seventh start of the season against LBSU, while Benji Caggianelli made his tenth. Sophomore Kellen O'Connor returned from injury to pitch 1.1 perfect innings out of the bullpen, earning the win in game two and giving Bakersfield four strong options to start against UC Irvine.

Junior outfielder James Bell was 4-for-10 against the Dirtbags, including a double and two RBI. He's now third on the team with a .288 batting average and 29 runs scored. Jashia Morrissey hit his third home run Saturday, while AJ Miller belted his 11th, one shy of a school record.

Bakersfield lost last season's series with the 20th-ranked Anteaters three games to one at Hardt Field, winning the second game of a Saturday double header, 11-9. Shortstop Aaron Casillas had three hits and a career-high five RBI in the CSUB win.

ROADRUNNER QUICK PITCHES...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT
CSUB has cut down 42.3% of would be basestealers this season, best in the Big West Conference. Roadrunner catchers Angel Saldivar and Bailey Seeger have thrown out 52% and 26%, respectively, while CSUB pitchers have caught five more and picked off ten. Saldivar leads the league with his caught-stealing percentage, and has seen fewer and fewer stolen-base attempts as the season has progressed. Opponents have attempted just 38 steals since the start of conference play, successfully advancing just 19 times (50%).

WALK THIS WAY
Bakersfield has also taken its bases on balls this season, walking 190 times, which already ranks 7th in program history. The program single-season record for bases on balls is 227, set in 2016. Second baseman Nick Salas leads the Roadrunners with 29 walks this season, the seventh highest total in single-season club history. He's seven free passes shy of Jordie Hein's standard of 36, set in 2012.

SLUGGING FOR EXTRA BASES
CSUB has already accumulated 113 extra base hits through its first 46 games of the season, good for an average of 2.46 per game. Bakersfield has at least one extra base hit in 44 of their 46 games, and at least two in 33 contests. The Roadrunners already rank 3rd in program history with 31 homers and ninth in club history with 78 doubles.

MILLER TIME
CSUB right fielder AJ Miller homered for the fifth time in the last nine games when he launched his 11th home run of the year against LBSU. It's the second-highest single-season total in program history, trailing only former slugger Martin Medina, who circled the bases 12 times during the 2010 campaign. Miller also moved into a tie for third all-time on CSUB's career home run list with his most recent blast.

STARTER STUFF
Three CSUB starting pitchers rank among the top-20 pitchers in the Big West by ERA. Kellen O'Connor is 12th with a 3.79 ERA, while Jaykob Acosta is right on his heels at 3.86. Righty Adrian Santa Cruz ranks 18th with a 4.91 ERA. Sophomore Benji Caggianelli no longer qualifies due to lower innings pitched totals, but would otherwise rank 16th with his ERA of 4.43.

SENIOR CELEBRATION
Bakersfield will celebrate five scholar-athletes during their final home series of the year with UC Santa Barbara. Seniors Cory Blackburn, Davonte Butler and Kenny Johnson and graduate students Kevin Altamirano and Daniel Carrizosa will all close out their Roadrunner careers against the Gauchos.

MOVING ON UP
Sixth-year senior Kenny Johnson made his 63nd career pitching appearance in Sunday's finale vs. Long Beach State. Johnson sits in fifth-place for career appearances. Fifth-year 'Runners Kevin Altamirano (8th, 57) and Davonte Butler (T-10th, 51) have also moved into the top-ten in career appearances this season.

CAGGIANELLI COMEBACK
Right hander Benji Caggianelli made his first start since taking a loss at UC Davis on Apr. 8, and allowed just two hits over 4.2 innings pitched in Sunday's finale at Cal Poly. Caggianelli looked like his old self, striking out five. He struck out seven in 4.2 innings pitched against Long Beach State, dropping his opponent's batting average to .176.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Sophomore shortstop Aaron Casillas has doubled in five of his last seven games, bringing his season total to 12 two-baggers. Casillas hit just six doubles over his first 55 games at CSUB. He has 47 total hits this season and is third on the club with his .285 average.

A GRAND OLE TIME
Andrew Allanson became the first player in CSUB history to hit a pair of grand slams in a single game, and drove in a program record eight RBI in a loss to Pepperdine. Allanson hit one grand slam from each side of the plate, a feat accomplished just once in MLB history (Bill Mueller, Red Sox, 2003). He has 7 home runs in 2022, tied for the fifth most in CSUB single-season history. He needs one more to move into a T-3rd and two more to move into a T-2nd. Martin Medina holds the `Runner record with 12 in 2010.

BIG WEST SLUGGERS
CSUB centerfielder Jashia Morrissey was named Big West Player of the Week on Monday, Mar. 21, after a standout performance in a series sweep of UC Riverside. Morrissey was 6-for-8, with five walks, a triple, a home run, five runs scored and four RBI. Andrew Allanson made it consecutive weekly honors for Roadrunner sluggers, when he captured the Player of the Week award on Mar. 28. Allanson started his week with a pair of grand slams and eight RBI against Pepperdine, before homering three more times and driving in eight more in a series split with Utah Valley.

HOME IS AT HARDT
CSUB boasts a 33-game home schedule in 2022, including nine home series and four individual midweek opponents. Five of those series are against Big West opponents Cal State Fullerton, Hawai'i, UC San Diego, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara, later in the year. Nine home games remain, with season tickets and single-game tickets for all CSUB home contests available for purchase on GoRunners.com/Tickets or by calling 661.654.BLUE. CSUB was 12-12 at Hardt Field last season, winning key Big West series against UC Riverside and Cal Poly, while splitting with UC Davis.

EXIT POLLING
CSU Bakersfield was picked to finish eighth in the Pre-Season Big West Conference Coaches' Poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Roadrunners finished with 35 points, sandwiched in a middle of the pack that also includes Cal State Fullerton, Hawai'i, CSUN and UC San Diego. Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly are among the pre-season favorites, while UC Riverside and UC Davis found themselves at the bottom of the poll. CSUB was picked to finish dead last in 2021, before spending most of the season in the top four. The `Runners stumbled at the finish and ended up in seventh place a season ago.

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Three Bakersfield scholar-athletes are working towards graduate degrees during the 2021-22 school year. Fifth-year seniors Kevin Altamirano, Daniel Carrizosa and Kenny Johnson are all taking advantage of COVID eligibility to pursue advanced degrees.

TEAMMATES AGAIN
James Bell and AJ Miller both signed with the University of Oregon out of high school and were teammates with the Ducks during the COVID shortened 2020 season. Bell played one season in Eugene and another at Fresno City College before joining the Roadrunners, while Miller spent three seasons at Oregon.

Newcomers Evan Rice and Adrian Santa Cruz were teammates at Phoenix College, leading the Bears to the NJCAA Division II World Series in 2021.

Benji Caggianelli and Gabe Ulloa played together at Bakersfield College in each of the last two seasons.

Four sets of `Runners were high school teammates. Andrew Allanson and Tyler Vargas played together at Quartz Hill High School in Lancaster, Calif., while Matt Kurata and DJ Massey competed at Gahr High School in Cerritos, Calif., Nick Salas and AJ Cleveland played at Highland High School in Bakersfield, Calif., and Aaron Casillas and Michael Pollard were teammates at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo, Calif.

LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD
Bakersfield native and three-year Roadrunner outfielder Jacen Roberson became the 21st CSUB baseball player selected in the Major League Baseball Draft when he was chosen by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 468th choice in the 16th Round. Roberson hit .282 with 10 doubles, three triples and seven home runs last season, earning All-Big West Honorable Mention honors.


SCOUTING THE OPPONENT(S)...

• UC Irvine: UC Irvine enters the weekend on the heels of a series win over UC Riverside and a midweek victory over #23 UCLA. The Anteaters are 29-21 this season, including a 13-11 Big West mark, a 17-8 record at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark and a 4-2 record against Pac-12 opponents.

UCI is hitting .260 as a team in 2022, with 86 doubles, 36 home runs and 42 stolen bases in 50 games played. Five separate Anteaters have at least five home runs on the season. Including, average leaders Caden Kendle and Nathan Church, who each have five and are hitting .340 and .325, respectively. Ben Fitzgerald leads the team with seven home runs, while Justin Torres has six to go with a team-high 14 doubles.

Newcomer David Vizcaino has thrown just 27.0 innings, but leads the team with a 1.00 ERA and is the reigning conference Pitcher of the Week, after an eight-inning, two-hitter against UCR. Friday starter, Nick Pinto sports a 3.25 ERA and a .269 opponent's average. Reliever Gordon Ingerbritson has appeared in 28 of 50 games with a 2.03 ERA and a .215 batting average against.
 

LAST TIME OUT...

Bakersfield dropped its fifth-consecutive Big West series losing two of three games to visiting Long Beach State a week ago. The Roadrunners won the second game of the series, behind strong relief outings from Kellen O'Connor and Cody Tucker, but blew a sixth-inning lead in last Sunday's rubbermatch. 

2022 Overall Statistics


NEXT WEEK...

The Roadrunners close out the 2022 season with one final home stand, welcoming league-leading and nationally ranked UC Santa Barbara to Hardt Field for a three-game series on Senior Weekend. The series will mark the final appearances in a Roadrunner uniform for scholar-athletes Kevin Altamirano, Cory Blackburn, Davonte Butler, Daniel Carrizosa and Kenny Johnson. The last time UCSB came to Hardt Field they were ranked #6 in the country and escaped Bakersfield with a 4-1 win.