@NCBearsBaseball Defeats Bakersfield in Extras

Friday, May 1

Bakersfield, Calif.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

16-22, 12-7

CSU Bakersfield

26-17-1, 12-6-1

Northern Colorado

CSU Bakersfield

Photo by: Rob Trubia

5/1/2015 11:54:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

It took longer than normally scheduled, but UNC Baseball earned to the hard fought win

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.-- Northern Colorado baseball won the opening game against Bakersfield Friday night 6-4 in 10 innings to draw within a half game of the Roadrunners for third place in the WAC.

"Tonight was a good win for us," manager Car Iwasaki said. "We battled back after giving up the lead and showed what we are made of tonight being able to grind out the win."

After the teams entered the extra innings tied at four, UNC would score two in the top of the 10th to take the lead and hold on in the bottom of the 10th.

Dan Reese (Casper, Wyo.) starting off the Bears 10th with a single to center field. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, Jake Ek (Columbus, Neb.) recorded his third hit of the game with a single to third base.

Ek and teammate Jensen Park (Kaneohe, Hawaii) both recorded three hits on the night to lead all hitters. All of UNC's starters recorded at least one hit in the game.

The next hitter in Reyn Sugai (Honolulu, Hawaii) singled to left field to drive home the game winning run in Reese. After Bakersfield walked Park to load the bases, Brandon Vaughn (Louisville, Colo.) drove in an insurance run with a sac fly to center field. Justin Mulvaney (Arvada, Colo.) would come in and finish his 2 2/3 innings of work in the bottom of the tenth to secure his third consecutive win in his last three appearances.

Vaughn not only brought in the final run of the game, but also the first. Vaughn's RBI single in the top of the third was the first run given up by CSUB's Hayden Carter in 25 innings dating back to Apr. 10. Cole Maltese (Supirior, Colo.) led off the fourth with his fifth home run of the year, a shot to the opposite field in right.

Mylz Jones the Roadrunners' right-handed hitting shortstop also went to right field in the fourth to record a home run. Jones' blast tied the score and it was his second homer of the year.

Jake Garcia's (Albuquerque, N.M.) two-out RBI single in the top of the sixth returned the lead to Northern Colorado, 3-2. Ek followed with his second double of the game to plate Garcia and make it 4-2.

Chance Gusbeth doubled with one out in the bottom of the seventh and moved to third on a Max Carter single. Kris Cayton, CSUB's second straight pinch-hitter, hit a ball deep to right. It would go down as a sac fly for Cayton as Gusbeth scored. Dylan Shiraki (Honokaa, Hawaii)would become UNC's third pitcher of the night, relieving Spencer Abblebach (Chandler, Ariz.).

The left-handed Shiraki would face the left-handed hitting Jordie Heinand, and would give up a Hein single to center. On the 11th pitch of his at-bat against Shiraki, Joey Sanchez) hit a sinking liner to Ek at shortstop. Ek dove to his backhand and came up with the final out of the frame.

Garcia worked out a two-out eighth inning walk against Carter to bring up Ek. Ek hit a grounder to short that took a bad hop, but Jones recovered and got the force out at second for out No. 3. Soloman Williams worked out a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth against Shiraki. UNC again went for the matchup, bringing in a righty, Justin Mulvaney, to face Jones. Jones responded with a single to center that advanced pinch-runner Nick Vehlewald to third.

For the second straight game a Ryan Grotjohn sacrifice fly tied the game. This time, Grotjohn hit one deep to right to allow Vehlewald to score. Jones was thrown out at second attempting to steal to end the inning.

UNC's Park, the fourth leading hitter in Division (.418), singled for the third time on the night with one out in the ninth. Vaughn singled to center as Park went to third. Pinch-hitter Bryan Tibbetts (Westminster, Colo.) walked to load the bases. With the corners up, Sanchez, the Roadrunner third baseman fielded a Maltese ground and threw Park out at the plate. Rob Cashel, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eight in right field, worked the count to 3-2. On Carter's 149th pitch of the night, Cashel struck out swinging. For Carter, it was his career high seventh strikeout in the game.

The two teams will square off again at 7:00 p.m. mountain time against Bakersfield.