• Postseason competition wraps up this weekend for the Cal State Bakersfield wrestling team, which will tackle the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia starting Thursday.
• All three Roadrunners are currently nationally ranked by multiple major polls (FloWrestling/InterMat/The Open Mat): #4/4/2 AJ Ferrari (197), #29/20/15 Jake Andrews (HWT), #33/33/NR Richard Castro-Sandoval (125).
• Former NCAA Champion AJ Ferrari is ranked the #9 Pound-for-Pound wrestler in the country by FloWrestling.
• FloWrestling (#26) and InterMat (#23) rank Cal State Bakersfield in the mid-twenties as a team while The Open Mat has the Roadrunners at #18.
• Bakersfield native Jake Andrews is now 23-3 on the year, making his true senior season his best to date.
• CSUB won Pac-12 Athlete of the Week a league-leading five times this season: Jake Andrews (Nov. 26), Guillermo Escobedo (Dec. 17), AJ Ferrari (Dec. 24 & Jan. 14), Gerrit Nijenhuis (Jan. 28).
• Bakersfield’s wrestling program had an active streak of sending at least one Roadrunner to the NCAA Championships for 50 consecutive seasons, snapped last year. A mix of ready returners and determined newcomers helped 6th-year Head Coach Luke Smith return the program to new prominence in the wrestling world.
• Smith recruited two standout veterans to help guide the way: 2021 NCAA Champion (197) AJ Ferrari and 3-time NCAA Qualifier (174/165) Gerrit Nijenhuis (Oklahoma/Purdue).
• Several consistent starters from last season’s lineup give Bakersfield a battle-tested lineup: Richard Castro-Sandoval (125), Santino Sanchez (133), Brock Rogers (149), Devyn Flores-Che (157), Guillermo Escobedo (165), and Jake Andrews (HWT).

CSUB at NCAA Championships

• Cal State Bakersfield has traveled for the National Championships
  • Mar. 20-22, Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center
  • TV/streaming via the ESPN network/ESPN+
  • Detailed schedule available at GoRunners.com/Wrestling
• CSUB has produced 9 NCAA Division I Champions since beginning competition at the DI level in 1977.
• 45 `Runners have earned All-American honors all-time. The last `Runner to earn All-American honors was Bryce Hammond (2014, 174 pounds).
• Bakersfield's three `Runners who qualified for the 2025 NCAA Championships and their seeds are listed below:
  • 33 Richard Castro-Sandoval (125 pounds)
  • 3 AJ Ferrari (197 pounds)
  • 17 Jake Andrews (heavyweight)
• Schedule & Links

Fresno State (8-11, 2-1)

• Bakersfield will Rally for the Valley on Tuesday in their first game of the season against the Fresno State Bulldogs.
• The `Runners will have another chance to face the Bulldogs later this season.
• Last year, Bakersfield went 2-0 against Fresno State.
  • The first game featured an exciting walk-off victory, with now-senior Elijah Pelayo driving in the winning run.
• All-time, Bakersfield trails Fresno State by just two games, with the Bulldogs leading the series 18-16 since the program began in 2009.

CSUN (2-14, 0-6)

• The `Runners open their home conference series against CSUN this Friday night.
• In celebration of Alumni Weekend, Bakersfield will retire Coach Kernen's jersey before Saturday's game.
• Bakersfield hasn’t won against CSUN since April 2022.
• This season, the Matadors have struggled, winning only two games so far.
  • However, they've faced a tough schedule, including matchups against #16 Oklahoma and #16 UC Santa Barbara.

• The Roadrunners make up their game vs Fresno State on Tuesday night after being rained out in the final game of the Fresno State Invitational. 
• Maalia Cherry ranks 11th in the conference for OPS (.996)
• Kaia Johnson is third in stolen bases in the Big West with 12, she is five stolen bases away from first place
  • She is the current Division I stolen bases leader in CSUB history and is trailing the all-time stolen base leader by 17 (Kianna Urbanski, 2004-07)

CSUB vs Fresno State/UC Santa Barbara

• Bakersfield takes on the Bulldogs for the second time this season
  • Since the last meeting, CSUB is 2-6 and Fresno State is 8-2
  • The Bulldogs are in first place in the Mountain West with an RPI of 53 as of March 16
• The Roadrunners will host the Gauchos this weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday and one on Sunday.
  • CSUB is 14-32 versus UCSB all time
  • UCSB won the series last year 2-1
    • All three games last year were decided via the run rule
• UC Santa Barbara is 4-2 through two conference series thus far after playing UC Riverside in the opener and sweeping Cal State Fullerton this past weekend
  • UCSB has a top-four offense and top-four pitching staff in the Big West
• The Roadrunners are the 9th best offense batting .245 on the year
  • CSUB has seen an improvement offensively since last season as they finished the year batting .237 as a team
  • The `Runners scored 119 runs all last season (51 games, 2.33 runs/game), this season they have scored 102 runs this season through 28 games (3.64 runs/game)

• The Cal State Bakersfield track and field teams are back in action after a weekend off of competition as they continued to train early in the season. 
• The women's program is coming off a historic indoor season where they saw multiple school records broken and various top-five marks in program history. Makiah Parker, Skye Odom, and Julie Johnson broke school records in their respective events. 
• Just weeks ago, Bakersfield native Jacob Yagers rebroke his school record in the men's 3,000m race with a time of 8:30.30.
• Javier Toro is coming off a successful season in which he qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries Meet. 

CSUB at Conover Classic - Mar. 21-22

• The men's squad is led by Javier Toro who is coming off a personal best in the shot put just two weeks ago at the Beach Opener. Toro will compete in the hammer throw and shot put this weekend along with fellow teammate Tom Richardson. Freshman and Bakersfield native Tyler Balgean joins the two and will also compete in the discuss. The thrower's squad will take on a competitive Cal Poly group. 
• Jacob Yagers has won his last three outings and will be challenged by a tough Cal poly distance squad. He is set to race the 1,500m this weekend. 
• Hartnell College transfer Ethan Lavina is set to compete in both the long and triple jump. Lavina jumped into the CSUB all-time list as he became the #19 best mark in the triple jump. 
• Meshach Davis will double in the 100m and 200m. He will also be a part of the 4x100m relay team. 
• On the women's side, Freshman Makiah Parker will double in the 100m and 200m where she has already cemented herself in the CSUB history books. Parker will take part in both the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay this weekend. 
• Freshman Skye Odom continues to make history in the jumps; she will take part in the long and triple jump. 
• Emilia Mandela will toe the line for the 100mH and the 4x100m relay team. 
• Ivy Miller and Jaztyn Greer will share the track in both the 100mH with Mandela but will also compete in the 400mH. Both women will be in the 4x400m relay.
• Grace Padron will compete in the hammer throw where she has also made history being a part of the CSUB all-time list.  
• Schedule & Links

• The Cal State Bakersfield Beach Volleyball team is coming off a 3-1 record at the Long Beach State Classic.
• Bakersfield beat Boise State for the first time in program history. The significance of the accomplishment is huge for CSUB as the Broncos have recently been receiving votes in the AVCA Collegiate Beach poll for national rankings. 
• The `Runners have five returners and 14 newcomers.
• Head Coach Andy Fulenwider is in his second season and will lead the program to compete for a Big West title.
• After going 3-1 this past weekend, the Roadrunners travel to participate in the Big West Challenge.
• CSUB will take on conference foes such as Sacramento State, Long Beach State, UC Davis, Hawai'i, Cal Poly and CSUN.

CSUB at Big West Challenge - Friday and Saturday, Mar. 21-Mar. 22

vs Sacramento State: Friday at 12:45 p.m.

• Bakersfield is 12-1 all-time against the Hornets.
• The last match-up took place last year. Bakersfield won 3-2.

vs Long Beach State: Friday at 3:15 p.m.

• Bakersfield is 0-21 all-time against Long Beach State.
• CSUB has had a challenging history against the opponent; they look to fight and get their first win in program history against the conference foe. 

vs UC Davis: Friday at 5:45 p.m.

• Bakersfield is 1-8 all-time against the Aggies.

vs Hawai'i: Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

• Bakersfield is 0-11 all-time against the Rainbow Wahine.

vs Cal Poly: Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

• Bakersfield is 4-17 all-time against the Mustangs.
• The last time the Roadrunners defeated the host school was back in 2023 when CSUB had a 3-2 victory. 

vs CSUN: Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

• Competition has been some what neutral for the two schools. Bakersfield narrowly has fewer wins compared to CSUN in all-time matchups. the all-time matchups are 15-18. 
• The Matadors snuck away with a 3-2 win two weeks ago against the `Runners. 
• Schedule & Links