Roadrunners drop series against Crusaders
March 6, 2020
The Roadrunners had a rough night on Monday with junior Davonte Butler on the mound. CSU Bakersfield opened the game against the Holy Cross University Crusaders offensively with the first batter being hit by a pitch, and then drawing two walks. They would fail to plate any runs however, striking out twice to end the inning.
Prior to the game Butler had been lights out, not allowing a run through 11 innings. He would extend the streak until the Crusaders were able to crack into the run column with three runs in the second inning. Holy Cross sparked another rally in the fifth inning with a single to center followed by an error by Butler when Holy Cross was able to hit a double down the right-field line.
A double to deep left center ended the night for Butler on the mound. Butler finished the night giving up a total of seven runs, three of which were unearned.
The night did not get any better. Turning to the bullpen, they allowed an additional nine runs to finish the night with a final of 16-2.
“They beat us in all aspects of the game,” coach Jeremy Beard reflected on Monday’s rough night. “Not a lot of things went well for us. It’s one of those days in baseball that you gotta get rid of it, make a decision, and come back tomorrow and play a better baseball game.”
Unfortunately for CSUB, relief pitcher Noah Parsons suffered from a gruesome elbow injury in the final inning of the game and was not able to finish out the game. “It doesn’t look good. He is coming off a Tommy John (the surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament) that he had when he was in junior college. He has been trying to battle that since he got here as a walk on,” Beard said about Parsons’ injury history.
“We didn’t take advantage of what we had, [bases loaded strikeout] in the first inning,” outfielder Nick Grossman commented. “We paid for it. You gotta get your butt kicked once in the while. You learn how to lose like this, and you learn how to win like this as a team.”
The ‘Runners lost in the final game of the series 7-4 on Tuesday night. The Crusaders walked away with a series win three games to one.
CSUB’s next four-game series will begin this today, Mar. 6 at Santa Clara University.
