By Nate Sanchez
Senior Columnist
Roadrunners baseball fans, our hour of joy is nearly at hand. Friday, Feb. 13, will mark the beginning of the baseball season.
After last year’s rebuilding season, CSU Bakersfield is looking to bounce back with 25 returning players.
I hesitate to even call last year a rebuilding year. Despite losing six players to the MLB First Year Player Draft last year, the Runners finished 26-33 (15-11 Western Athletic Conference). They were only three wins away from winning the WAC Championship.
This year, expectations are high.
“We want to win the conference,” said CSUB baseball coach Bill Kernen. “We definitely can. We think we’re going to contend and after that you’ve got to do it in the conference tournament.”
Kernen said defense will be a huge factor of the Runners’ success this year.
“Our defense is our most exceptional trait out of hitting, pitching and defense,” Kernen said. “It’s really good. It was good last year, but it’s even better this year. Middle infield is as good as anybody. So all our pitchers have to do is have the hitters put it in play and have these guys make plays for them.”
Among the Runners’ defense specialists is sophomore utility man Max Carter. Carter’s played six out of nine possible positions on the field.
“It’s a big deal to have a guy like that,” Kernen said. “He could even catch if he wanted to. He can pitch too, so it’s like having three players in the same guy.”
“I’ve always been raised to be ready to play whenever the coach says, ‘go there’,” Carter said. “I know what everyone’s supposed to be doing, so I know what to do when I play different positions. I would think it’s helped me over the years.”
Another strength for this year’s squad is depth. Pitchers Austin Davis and Taylor Aikenhead and shortstop Oscar Sanay have gone to play professionally. While some may see this as a problem, Kernen sees beyond it.
“We have a lot of depth, but not really any big stars on the mound,” Kernen said. “Its like in 2013 when we ended up having a really good year and pitchers stepped forward but going into the year we didn’t know who it was going to be.”
Logan Trowbridge and Ross Hough both offer great defensive options at catcher and the starting rotation is promising, with returners like James Barragan, Hayden Carter and Steven Gee.
“I think we’re gonna be up to the task of playing top level teams,” Kernen said. “We’ve got some guys that are really good players who are gonna get drafted and young guys that are really developing. We’ve got two quality catchers. We have good depth.”
The season starts Friday, Feb. 13 at Hardt Field at 6 p.m. against Creighton.
