By Juan Garcia
Sports Reporter
It was a cold night for CSU Bakersfield as they lost its home game opener to CSU Northridge 7-5 Saturday, at Hardt Field.
“That was a marathon of a game,” said CSUB head coach Bob Macaluso. “We made some mistakes early and we couldn’t get that consistent pitching from one guy to just stop them.”
CSUB (2-1) fell short in the pitching department as they were unable to stop CSUN from scoring 7 runs. The Roadrunners attempted to catch up to the Matadors, but both times Northridge responded with runs of their own to increase their lead. In the fifth inning CSUB got on the scoreboard as junior second baseman David Metzgar and junior Max Carter were both walked with bases loaded to even the score at 2-2.
“I wasn’t that nervous,” said freshman Andrew Hansen. “I came in prepared and did the best I could.”
Hansen was the starting pitcher for the Roadrunners and made his first start as a pitcher for CSUB. Hansen pitched a no-decision and threw failed a pickoff attempt which gave Northridge a 2-0 lead in the fourth.
CSUB featured 5 pitchers throughout the entirety of the game, including freshman Isaiah Moten who debuted his first home game for the Roadrunners.
“I’ve been doing it my whole life, nothing new,” said Moten. “It felt good, felt pretty comfortable.”
It was a packed house at Hardt Field on Saturday as the number of attendants was 964, the third largest crowd for a season opener, the first being 1075.
“A lot of things didn’t go our way,” said senior pitcher and right fielder Chance Gusbeth. “We weren’t mentally prepared.”
CSUB doesn’t get much done until bottom of the fifth, junior David Metzger, and Max Carter each bat a walker with bases loaded. Metzger would earn the RBI and CSUB gets on the board with 2 walks to end the fifth.
CSUB junior outfielder Dustin Frailey walked a run and junior Cody White had an RBI double into the left field to start off the seventh. CSUB attempted for two runs in the bottom of the seventh, to no avail.
“We need to pick it up tomorrow,” said Gusbeth. “A good sign is even when we weren’t playing our best we were able to score four runs.”
The next day, Sunday, Feb. 21 CSUB would go on to redeem themselves to win the 3-game series 5-3.
Moten’s a freshman and Hansen did okay,” said coach Macaluso. “There is too much chase, so it is something we need to improve for tomorrow.”
CSUB will return to Hardt field to face St. John’s University Feb. 26 at 6pm.
