Sports Editor
It was senior night for the CSU Bakersfield wrestling team but Arizona State spoiled the night as the Sun Devils won their final three matches to beat the Roadrunners 21-18 on Sunday at the Icardo Center.
“It was a tough battle. We knew it would be tough,” said CSUB head coach Mike Mendoza. “We lost some close matches that went [Arizona State’s] way. It came down to the last match and they pulled it off and [we’re] moving on now to conference.”
Both teams were tied at 18 going into the final match of the 141-pound division between CSUB redshirt-junior AJ Fierro (15-9) and Arizona State redshirt-sophomore Oliver Pierce (20-14). Fierro came out strong getting a takedown in the first period but allowed Pierce to escape and score a point. Pierce returned the favor and got a two-point takedown late in the first period to give him a 3-2 lead going into the second period.
Pierce started in the down position in the second period and quickly escaped from Fierro, scoring the only point of the period which put the score at 4-2 going into the final period. Fierro started in the down position in the third period but was unable to escape Pierce. Pierce rode his way throughout the third period earning another point for a 1:55 riding time advantage making the final score 5-2.
This gave the Sun Devils (12-7, 2-2 PAC-12) the win and CSUB (11-4, 4-1 PAC-12) received its first Pac-12 loss of the season.
Some CSUB seniors made the most of their final match in the Icardo Center. In the 174-pound division CSUB senior Bryce Hammond (16-3), who is ranked sixth in the nation, went up against ASU redshirt-senior Preston McCalmon (7-12).
Hammond dominated McCalmon in the first period earning a takedown and three four-point near falls to make the score 14-0. Hammond ended the match in the second period by getting a two-point near fall winning by technical fall 16-0.
“I’ve been coming here watching dual meets since I was in fourth or fifth grade,” said Hammond. “I used to come in to the room when I was really little. My dad was practicing and now to just be at that point where it’s almost over, is pretty surreal.”
At 197, CSUB senior Reuben Franklin went up against ASU redshirt-senior Josh DaSilveira. Franklin was looking to get back at DaSilveira for an earlier loss in the season. It took three periods for Franklin to get the win as he was able to defeat DaSilveira by majority decision, 12-3.
“Today I made sure to bring everything I had,” said Franklin. “The way I look at it is kind of like a business deal. I’m here to do a job, so I’m going to keep doing that and maybe after the season is over I can look back. But right now I’m just going to keep looking forward.”
CSUB beat Boise State 34-12 on Friday thanks to four pins in the dual.
At 197, Franklin pinned the Broncos’ redshirt-freshman Kadyn Del Toro at the 4:20 mark.
At heavyweight, redshirt-sophomore Matt Williams pinned sophomore Gabriel Gonzalez. Then later in the dual at 174, Hammond pinned BSU’s redshirt-junior Austin Dewey, which actually clinched the win for the Roadrunners.
CSUB got its fourth pin at 184 when redshirt-freshman Dylan Bollinger pinned redshirt-sophomore Zach Coffman in the final match of the day.
CSUB will travel to Arizona State next for the Pac-12 Championships on Feb. 27 in an all day event at Tempe, Ariz.
