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Bakersfield, Calif. - CSU Bakersfield will return home to Hardt Field one final time in 2022, closing out the season with a three-game series against league-leading and nationally-ranked UC Santa Barbara, beginning Thursday, May 26 and continuing through Saturday, May 28. Saturday's contest will double as the team's annual Senior Day Celebration, and the final home game for Bakersfield graduates Kevin Altamirano, Cory Blackburn, Davonte Butler, Daniel Carrizosa and Kenny Johnson.

The Roadrunners enter the season-ending series with an 18-30 overall record and an 11-16 mark in Big West Conference action, following a 2-1 series defeat at UC Irvine a weekend ago. CSUB won a thrilling 8-7, 12-inning victory on Saturday night to even the series but dropped Sunday's rubbermatch, 6-3.

Bakersfield got 15.1 innings from its starters against the Anteaters, including 5.2 inning outings from Jaykob Acosta and Adrian Santa Cruz. CSUB starters boast a 4.60 earned run average this season, with four starters ranking among the Big West's Top-20 in ERA. The 'Runners 5.23 overall staff ERA ranks 114th nationally.

As a team, CSUB is hitting .256 overall and .254 in conference competition. Four Roadrunners are hitting .280 or better, including AJ Miller's team-leading .294 average to go with team-high double (14) and home run (11) totals. James Bell and Jashia Morrissey are each hitting .287 with  18 and 17 extra-base hits, respectively, while sophomore Aaron Casillas is hitting .283 overall and a team-best .324 in league play.

Bakersfield was swept in a four-game series at Santa Barbara a season ago, and last beat the Gauchos on Feb. 21, 2017 when they knocked off UCSB 2-1 at Hardt Field, behind a combined four-hit effort from hurlers Isaiah Moten and Nathan Dewsnap.

The two teams will meet for the first time at Hardt Field as conference rivals, this weekend.


ROADRUNNER QUICK PITCHES...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT
CSUB has cut down 49.7% of would be basestealers this season, best in the Big West Conference. Roadrunner catchers Angel Saldivar and Bailey Seeger have thrown out 46% 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 32 steals since the start of conference play, successfully advancing just 18 times (56%).

WALK THIS WAY
Bakersfield has also taken its bases on balls this season, walking 203 times, which 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 30 walks this season, the fifth highest total in single-season club history. He's six free passes shy of Jordie Hein's standard of 36, set in 2012.

SLUGGING FOR EXTRA BASES
CSUB has already accumulated 117 extra base hits through its first 49 games of the season, good for an average of 2.39 per game. Bakersfield has at least one extra base hit in 46 of their 49 games, and at least two in 35 contests. The Roadrunners already rank 3rd in program history with 32 homers and sixth in club history with 81 doubles.

MILLER TIME
CSUB right fielder AJ Miller homered for the fifth time 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 13th with a 3.79 ERA, while Jaykob Acosta is right on his heels at 14, (3.93). Righty Adrian Santa Cruz ranks 19th with a 4.89 ERA. Sophomore Benji Caggianelli no longer qualifies due to lower innings pitched totals, but would otherwise rank 18th with his ERA of 4.44.

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 64th career pitching appearance picking up the win in Saturday's contest at UC Irvine. Johnson sits in fifth-place for career appearances. Fifth-year 'Runners Kevin Altamirano (9th, 58) and Davonte Butler (T-11th, 51) have also moved into the top-fifteen in career appearances this season.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Sophomore shortstop Aaron Casillas has doubled 12 times in  46 starts this season, raking second on the team. Casillas hit just six doubles over his first 55 games at CSUB. He has 51 total hits this season and is fifth on the club with his .283 average. He leads Bakersfield in hitting during the conference season, with a .324 average, alongside 20 RBI.

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 Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara enters the weekend with a 40-12 overall record and a 24-3 conference mark, after winning 13 of their last 15 games. The Gauchos moved up three spots in the USA Today/NCAA Division I Coaches' Poll to #18 after sweeping a three-game series with UC Riverside at home.

UCSB leads the Big West with 69 home runs, and is second in the league with its .282 batting average. Fourteen different Gauchos have hit at least one home run, paced by outfielder Broc Mortensen's 13. Infielder Christian Kirtley is one of five UCSB qualifiers hitting over .300 at .309 and is second on the team with ten home runs. Shortstop Jordan Sprinkle is arguably the team's top prospect, hitting .281 with 18 extra-base hits and strong production on the defensive side of the ball.

The Gaucho pitching staff sports a collective ERA of 3.84, which leads the Big West and ranks 13th nationally. UCSB's projected starting rotation of Cory Lewis, Mike Gutierrez and Ryan Gallagher are a combined 22-1 this season, with all three boasting ERA's less than 3.15.

Sophomore Ryan Harvey is the league's leading closer with 10 saves and 35 strikeouts in 27.0 innings pitched.
 

LAST TIME OUT...

Bakersfield dropped two of three games at UC Irvine, winning Saturday night in a wild 12-inning affair before falling in Sunday's tightly-contested rubbermatch. Cody Hendrik's keyed Saturday's victory when he figured in all four of CSUB's runs in the ninth inning or later. Hendriks drove in a pair in the top of the ninth-inning with a single to left-centerfield forcing extra innings. He was hit by a pitch and scored a run in the 11th inning, before walkng in the winning run in the top of the 12th. 

2022 Overall Statistics


ON DECK...

See you next year!