Vincent Perez
Sports Editor
After losing their second of a three-game set 15-1 yesterday to UC Davis, the CSU Bakersfield baseball team recovered to claim a 14-7 win on Sunday, Feb. 18, at Hardt Field.
The Roadrunners (1-2) won their first game of the season in their third game against the Aggies (2-1) at home thanks to an offensive splurge and relaxed pitching from two of their newest players, freshman Devonte Butler and junior transfer, Jordan Regan.
Head Coach Jeremy Beard said, “It’s nice because of how the last two days have gone after getting beat up pretty good.”
He said he was proud of starting winning pitcher Butler (1-0), who gave up five earned runs on eight hits, and recorded six strikeouts in five innings. He also praised Ragan, who got the four-inning save. Ragan allowed three hits and two runs in 58 pitches to close out the game.
“I’m really happy with their ability to come and throw strikes and have some conviction with what they were doing today,” said Beard.
“Today was our best pitching, tomorrow we’ll see what happens.”
Ragan, a transfer from the College of Southern Idaho, said, “I felt good. I think I pounded the zone well. Had a couple of walks, but I cruised through that.” He said he was relieved to close out the win. “I’m pretty excited we got our first win.”
Ragan said that the team needs to stay in a routine. He said the team will not change their practice habits for tomorrow’s game against St. Mary’s College.
Senior outfielder Jassen Oliver drove in five runs and went 2-for-5 as the designated hitter, said, “To finally be able to show what this team is known for and what is possible to do is a big deal.”
“There’s 27 outs for a reason. You can score whenever. It’s nice to grind out every single out.” CSUB had 15 hits total.
“It’s nice to finally get our feet wet and play Roadrunner baseball,” added Oliver.
Oliver said that the team needs to grind out bats and overall play to keep momentum. The Roadrunners got their runs in the first six innings to hold down the Aggies. UC Davis committed four errors and CSUB had zero.
CSUB got their first run by a bases loaded hit on the back to Oliver that drove in junior catcher Jake Ortega. Leading 1-0, former pitcher, now first baseman, redshirt-senior Alec Daily, hit into a fielder’s choice, and the Aggies made a throwing error from the second baseman that allowed two runs to score. After that, the onslaught of offense finally came to life for the first time this season.
This season is Daily’s first time on Hardt Field in three years. Daily underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, and sat out the 2016 season as a medical redshirt.
UC Davis got on the board in the third, scoring four runs, and tried to rally in the ninth, with two runs in the ninth, but were too late to overpower the Roadrunners.
Tomorrow, the Roadrunners face St. Mary’s in a one-off game, 4 p.m. at Hardt Field. Following the St. Mary’s game, the Roadrunners travel to the University of California, for a four-game series Feb. 23-25.
