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CSU Bakersfield Baseball Rally Comes Up Short in a 7-4 Loss to the Hawai'i Warriors

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Baseball

Hawai'i scored four times in the sixth inning to break open a scoreless game and held on to beat CSU Bakersfield 7-4, Thursday night, in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference series at Hardt Field.

The Roadrunners rallied for two in the seventh and one in the ninth, but could not complete the comeback, falling to 14-17 overall and 7-3 in conference action.

"Jaykob Acosta was excellent, but we made too many mistakes against a quality ball club and we know we can't do that and win in this league," said CSUB Head Coach Jeremy Beard. "I thought we could have battled a bit more consistently at the plate as well, but you have to tip your hat to their starter who came out of a relief role on short notice and threw very well tonight." 

Hawai'i right-hander Blake Koali'i Pontes made his first start of the season and pitched six innings, allowing just five hits and an earned run while striking out eight Roadrunners. Acosta coasted through five, before running into trouble in the sixth and surrendering four two-out runs. 

Aaron Casillas pulled Bakersfield within a run in the seventh with a two-run single. He finished the night 3-for-4 and drove in three of CSUB's four runs. AJ Miller drove in the first Roadrunner run with his fifth home run of the season in the sixth. 

Hawai'i got a pair of hits from both Aaron Ujimori and Matt Wong, and a three-run bases clearing double from Jacob Igawa to win their sixth-straight game. 

HOW IT HAPPENED...

T6 | Jacob Igawa belted a two-out bases clearing double into the left-centerfield gap to break open a scoreless game and draw first blood for visiting Hawai'i. Matt Wong followed one batter later with a sharp single into centerfield to plate Igawa and cap a four-run inning for the Rainbow Warriors. 

B6 | Roadrunner rightfielder AJ Miller answered in the bottom half of the inning when he jumped on a fastball for his fifth home run of the season, pulling CSUB within 4-1. 

B7 | Aaron Casillas chopped a two-out single back through the box against UH reliever Cameron Hagen to plate a pair and make it 4-3. 

T8 | Hawai'i got two runs back in the eighth to make it 6-3. Wong doubled in a run for his second RBI of the night and Aaron Ujimori drew a bases loaded hit by pitch. 

T9 | Jordan Donahue walked with the bases loaded in the ninth to give Hawai'i a 7-3 lead. Centerfielder Cole Cabrera scored on the play. 

B9 | Casillas picked up his third hit of the night with a run-scoring single to centerfield and set the final score of 7-4.   

NOTABLE...

• The Roadrunners lost the series opener for the second straight week, after opening the season 6-1 in openers. Last week Bakersfield bounced back to win the series with UC Davis, taking a pair of high-scoring decisions in games two and three. • Bakersfield pitchers hit six Hawai'i hitters, matching a single-game school record set last season at Santa Barbara on May 29, 2021. 
• CSUB fell to 7-3 in Big West play and 7-3 all-time against the Rainbow Warriors. 
• Shortstop Aaron Casillas drove in three runs for the third time this season and the second time in the last three games. Casillas has seven RBI in his last three outings. 

ON DECK...

The Roadrunners and Rainbow Warriors will meet again, Friday evening at 6:05 p.m. with southpaw Kellen O'Connor facing off against Hawai'i ace Cade Halemanu. The two schools will conclude their three-game series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m., with a game that features the second of five CSUB Baseball trading card giveaways - available to the first 250 fans - and a post-game, on-field Easter Egg hunt for all children 12 and under.