Tuesday Morning Sports Page

Today the adventure begins.

I’m happy to report the CSUB baseball team is “wheels down” in Texas, although from what I’ve learned their trip wasn’t without some hiccups as they traveled from the Bay Area to Arlington yesterday. I guess that’s the norm with air travel these days. But everyone is there safe and sound preparing for tomorrow’s opener against San Jose State at 1 P.M. (PDT).

I’ll be leaving today with a small delegation of administrators as we make the trek to CSUB’s first conference baseball tournament as a member of the WAC. It will prove to be the first of many and it sure is nice to be the number-one seed. Although we can no longer fly under the radar, everyone knows exactly who Bakersfield is now, and that we’re the team to beat this week.

We finalized broadcast plans yesterday and you can listen to the entire tournament on GoRunners.com. Here’s a link to the broadcast page.

We will also have two of the first three games of the tournament available on SmartTalk 1230 here in Bakersfield. Coverage on air starts with Thursday’s game against Sacramento State at 5 P.M. (PDT) and Friday’s game against UT San Antonio at 5 P.M. (PDT) as well. Wednesday’s game against San Jose State at 1 P.M. (PDT) will be available on GoRunners.com exclusively.

Should Bakersfield win our pool and play in Sunday’s Championship game, coverage of that will also be available on GoRunners.com and SmartTalk 1230 beginning at 11 A.M. (PDT). That one will be for all the marbles, and I hope we’re their with a trip to the NCAA Regionals on the line.

We’ll have a few other features and game coverage available as well on GoRunners.com all week, so don’t miss a thing from QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. The city has been looking forward to hosting this tournament for the last 12 months or so and I know it will be a first-class affair.

On a wrestling note, CSUB was honored again for their academics yesterday by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Bakersfield was ranked 22nd out of the top-30 academic teams for their combined 3.07 team GPA. Harvard (naturally) topped that list.

Tyler Iwamura and Ian Nikkel won spots on the NWCA All-Academic team for their performances and GPAs. Iwamura won the honor for the fourth-straight season. He’s also a ROWDYs nominee once again for ‘Best Academic Performance.’

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Wrestling Honored for Academics

Speaking of the ROWDYs. Tickets are still available for the June 3rd festivities at Dore Theatre. We have a great show planned and I hope you will join us.

GoRunners.com: Tickets on sale for 2nd Annual ROWDYs June 3rd

More to come from Texas beginning tomorrow. We’ll be on hand when the ‘Runners hopefully make history.

Monday Morning Sports Page

Unfortunately CSUB baseball couldn’t win the series at San Jose State on Sunday but they won enough times to win the Western Athletic Conference regular season title and earn the top seed in the WAC Tournament which starts Wednesday in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Here’s the schedule

Wednesday 1 PM (Pacific) CSUB vs. San Jose State

Thursday 5 PM (Pacific) CSUB vs. Sacramento State

Friday 5 PM (Pacific) CSUB vs. UTSA

The winner of the pool will play in the conference championship game on Sunday at 11 AM (Pacific) to determine who earns the spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Should be an exciting time. We’ll have live coverage of all games online at GoRunners.com along with commercial radio coverage on a station TBA. More to come when that is announced.

Don’t miss this historic event, CSUB baseball’s first conference tournament.

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Falls to SJ State in Regular Season Finale

Also on a baseball note, yet another Roadrunner has advanced in a national player of the year award list. Tyler Shryock is on to the second round of the Wallace Award list for the nation’s top short stop.

Don’t forget we are edging closer to the 2nd Annual ROWDYs Awards coming June 3rd to the Dore Theatre. Tickets are available now and we’re running a special two-for-one discount right now as well.

More to come this week, I’ll be in Texas with plenty of updates from the WAC Tournament.

Friday Morning Sports Page

Starting with baseball, the lone CSUB team still competing has one more conference series starting tonight at San Jose State. Bakersfield will send Jeff McKenzie to the mound with the magic number being one. Meaning all the ‘Runners have to do is win one game this weekend to secure the regular-season WAC title and the number-1 seed in the WAC Tournament next week in Texas.

You can listen to tonight’s game on KERN 1180 beginning at 6 P.M. and all weekend long on GoRunners.com

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Looks to Clinch WAC Title This Weekend

Also on a baseball note, Dylan Christensen has been named to the next round of finalists for the Olerud Award for best two-way player in the nation.

That award will be announced June 29th in Lubbock, Texas.

It was a busy Thursday with several teams making news.

Men’s basketball officially announced the addition of Deng Deng who will transfer in from Long Beach State. He’ll sit out next season but will be ready for the 2014-15 season. Deng was an AAU teammate with Tyrell Corbin who signed with CSUB a few weeks ago as well out of Salt Lake Community College.

Women’s soccer added a few more as well as they bring in a total of eight new faces including a couple of red shirts for this years’s 2013 squad. Four signings were announced on Thursday.

The WAC will add men’s swimming in 2013. It’s the second time the sport has been sponsored by the conference. CSUB will join the other WAC schools plus a few affiliate members in the new conference beginning July 1.

On the track and field front, congrats to Thomas Judge who learned on Thursday he’s in the field for the hammer throw in the NCAA Regionals, his first postseason bid. The two-time Great West Champion was waiting to hear his name called into the field. He’ll compete in Austin, Texas May 23rd-26th.

GoRunners.com: Judge Qualifies for West Regionals

Also on a wrestling note, Herb Benham from The Bakersfield Californian wrote a nice piece about his time at a recent CSUB wrestling fundraiser. Glad our student-athletes left an impression.

Bakersfield Californian: Not Even Budget Can Keep a Wrestler Down

Thursday Morning Sports Page

Today starts a journey for the baseball team as they depart for San Jose for the final regular-season WAC series. Magic number is one to seal up the regular-season title and the #1 seed in the WAC tournament. From San Jose the team departs for Texas and next week’s tournament in Grand Prairie. Hopefully this all ends with a spot in the NCAA Regionals.

Jeff McKenzie will get the ball tomorrow night in San Jose as he hopefully helps the ‘Runners take another step towards their postseason goal. McKenzie is now officially on the national radar for pitcher of the year.

We’ll have coverage all weekend of the series from San Jose with live audio on GoRunners.com. Tomorrow night’s game will also be available on KERN 1180 beginning at 6 P.M.

Onto the recruiting front, several sports announcing additions during this offseason. Men’s basketball has signed another student-athlete in former Long Beach State forward Deng Deng who will transfer to CSUB. Deng will sit out next season per NCAA transfer rules but is expected to be a big contributor when he hits the court in 2014.

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Adds Forward Deng Deng

Also in women’s swimming, Chris Hansen announced the signing of six student-athletes for next season, their second in the WAC but the school’s first as an all-sports member.

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Women’s Swimming Adds Six

Getting closer to the 2nd Annual ‘ROWDYs’ Awards on June 3rd. Tickets are available to come and see the accomplishments of CSUB student-athletes this past season. There is a buy-one get one free offer currently available for $50. Contact Mark Mayes at 654-3473 for more information.

Monday Morning Sports Page

One of the best lines in baseball applies to the CSUB Roadrunners this week:

“Magic-number…One.”

The Roadrunners are one win away from claiming the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and the top-seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament if they win one game this weekend at San Jose State. Following a sweep of Seattle on Sunday 9-7, and UT Arlington defeating Texas State twice, Bakersfield needs just a single win in conference play this weekend to wrap up the regular-season crown at the number-one seed.

CSUB got the bats going this weekend putting up 33 combined runs over the three-game series while the bullpen performance of Chuck Buchanan on Sunday helped the ‘Runners earn the sweep. Friday it was all Bakersfield in a 13-1 blowout, then Saturday it appeared to be the same as the ‘Runners led 9-0 before Seattle made it interesting, CSUB however would keep the Redhawks at bay with an 11-9 win before trailing Sunday at one point 5-1. Bakersfield fought back again to take a 7-5 lead before Seattle tied it again at 7. CSUB then scored on a wild pitch in the 7th and got an RBI single from Dylan Christensen in the 8th to put them up 9-7 for good.

It was the second series sweep in WAC play this season by CSUB who also set a new program-high with 34 wins, breaking the old mark of 33 set back in 2011.

Bakersfield Californian: Buchanan Strong In Relief as ‘Runners Rally to Win

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Rallies for Series Sweep of Seattle

Seattle Times: College Roundup

CSUB heads to Cal Poly on Tuesday for their non-conference finale against the Mustangs. Cal Poly is coming off a series loss to UC Irvine in which they fell 11-1 on Sunday.

With a place secured in the WAC tournament and a likely number-one seed, we encourage fans to make the trip to Grand Prairie, Texas for CSUB’s first WAC baseball tournament May 22nd-26th. Game times and opponents are TBD but tickets and hotel reservations are still available.

Visit this website for ticket package information as well as local hotel info in the Arlington/Grand Prairie area.

It is a great ballpark and will be a historic occasion for CSUB baseball and CSUB Athletics. We hope you can join us.

Friday Morning Sports Page

Thanks to all who attended the 41st Annual CSUB Athletics Spring BBQ and Auction. We had a tremendous crowd, one of the largest in recent memory. Seems like everyone had a great time and we raised quite a bit of money for the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund.

We’ll have some pictures from the event up later on our Facebook page.

Meanwhile on the baseball front, today starts a three-game series with Seattle at Hardt Field, the final three-game series at home this season. This is your final chance to catch the ‘Runners so don’t miss out. Friday and Saturday night at 6 PM and Sunday at Noon.

Bakersfield Californian: Roadrunners happy to be back home

GoRunners.com: ‘Runners host final home series this weekend

Tonight’s game will also be available on KERN 1180 with first pitch scheduled for 6 PM. The remaining CSUB baseball games including the WAC tournament will also be available on GoRunners.com.

And it has been a busy week for former Roadrunner Gyasi Zardes as he’s starting to receive a lot of attention from the LA Galaxy media, here’s another update from the LA Galaxy Insider Blog.

Thursday Morning Sports Page

Happy Spring BBQ Thursday as we hope we’ll see you all tonight at the 41st Annual CSUB Athletics Spring BBQ and Auction. It’s a community-tradition event that this year features a great silent auction with hundreds of items to choose from including tickets to events, vacation packages and more.

Of course we’ll have regular BBQ staples such as Harris Ranch NY Steak, Teriyaki Chicken, pies from Marie Calender’s, salsa from Mexicali, great music from Foster Campbell and Friends and plenty more.

Tickets are available in advance at Vons, Russo’s Books and Mexicali for $30. At the gate tonight it will be $35. All proceeds benefit the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund.

Bakersfield Californian: The Juicy Details About the CSUB BBQ

GoRunners.com: 41st Annual Spring BBQ Tonight

Onto basketball, men’s hoops head coach Rod Barnes continues to build a nice squad for next season signing 6’8″ forward Antonio Jenifer to a national letter of intent on Wednesday. Jenifer was the second-highest scorer in the Maryland Junior College Conference last season while also being named a NJCAA All-American for his efforts which including 21 points and 8 rebounds per game. Jenifer is a versatile post/wing player that will give the ‘Runners even more depth up front in 2013.

So far two student-athletes have signed on to join this group, there could be a few more in the making.

GoRunners.com: Jenifer Adds Depth to Bakersfield Front Line

Bakersfield Californian: CSUB signs power forward to basketball team

Tomorrow starts an important series for CSUB baseball as the first-place Roadrunners continue their quest for the regular season WAC title hosting Seattle in a three-game series at Hardt Field. Bakersfield has six WAC games remaining and a couple of teams nipping at their heels in the race for the #1 seed in the WAC tournament.

Seattle meanwhile is fighting for their playoff lives, so it will be an interesting match up this weekend.

Friday and Saturday we get going at 6 PM, Sunday the action starts at Noon. This is your last chance to see the ‘Runners in action this season so don’t miss it.

GoRunners.com: Sunday Baseball Moved Up One Hour

Meanwhile in soccer, former Roadrunner Gyasi Zardes took a break from the LA Galaxy main squad to play a reserve game on Tuesday night and absolutely stole the show with a goal and an assist. He’s also improving daily at the MLS level and already drawing rave reviews from his teammates. Check out this latest story for LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano

There is also a new edition of ‘Roadrunner Rundown’ available. We taped this episode as part of a new video-pilot version of the show. We’ll be unveiling the details this summer but we’re going to be taking the show to the next level with a great partnership and some fun bells and whistles. Stay tuned for more. Meanwhile enjoy the audio from this week’s show that including an interview with reigning WAC pitcher of the week Jeff McKenzie and two-time hammer throw champion Thomas Judge.

GoRunners.com: Ace Hurler, hammer throw champ on this week’s show

See you tonight at the Spring BBQ

Tuesday Morning Sports Page

Former Roadrunners Martin Medina (left) and Mike McCarthy. Both playing Class High-A baseball with the White Sox and Red Sox organizations respectively.

Hey look at those two, they look familiar. Here’s a photo from Sunday’s first meeting between former Roadrunners Mike McCarthy and Martin Medina in the minor leagues. We talked about the game a little yesterday here but I did find out Medina’s lone hit was against McCarthy, a single up the middle, but I also learned McCarthy struck him out too. So it was all even.

Speaking of Mike, here’s a podcast from WEEI in Boston where he was featured for his off the field work in the aftermath of the Boston bombings.

I want to thank our friends in the media for allowing us some air time this morning and this week to help promote the CSUB Athletics Spring BBQ and Auction coming up Thursday night. Here’s a shot of our Sr. Associate AD Ziggy Siegfried with Danny and Nikki on KLLY 95.3

Also thanks to ‘Tony in the Morning’ on 101.5 KGFM as well we Romeo on Hot 94.1 for allowing us some time to promote the event. Others such as KERN 1180, KUZZ and KNZR have also given us time over the last few days and weeks to get the word out about this event.

Tickets are available now at Russo’s Books, Vons, Mexicali and GoRunners.com for $30 in advance.

More information is available here.

We’ll also have 100′s of silent auction items to bid on as well as an 80′s costume contest. Make sure you join us.

Congrats to Jeff McKenzie for winning his fourth WAC pitcher of the week award on Monday. His 11-1 mark is not only the best in the conference, but second-best in the nation behind Tyler Beede of Vanderbilt who is 12-0.

McKenzie will be my guest this week on ‘Roadrunner Rundown’ which will be available shortly on GoRunners.com along with a big announcement about the future of our radio program. Thomas Judge, a two-time Great West Conference hammer throw champion will also join us on the program this week.

Monday Morning Sports Page

It was a championship weekend for CSUB’s Thomas Judge who highlighted CSUB’s final Great West Conference Tournament with his second consecutive championship in the hammer throw as he once again set a personal best record at the meet in Humble, Texas.

With my office located so close to the weight room, I can tell you I’ve seen Judge in there more times than not, obviously his work has paid off, congrats.

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield’s Judge Repeats as GWC Hammer Throw Champ

His teammate Bryan Wilmert also managed a second-place finish in the hammer throw. CSUB landed three-throwers on the All-Conference team.

GoRunners.com: Stotler Takes Third in Steeplechase At GWC Championships

GoRunners.com: Scott, Holland, Page Finish In Top 3 at GWC Meet

In baseball the Roadrunners took another series on the road as they won two of three games at Louisiana Tech over the weekend. Bakersfield lost the finale on Sunday after giving up a big 6th inning but did manage a huge comeback on Saturday to claim the series win. CSUB now has a one-game lead in the WAC standings heading into their final home series this weekend vs. Seattle at Hardt Field.

GoRunners.com: Louisiana Tech Takes Series Finale From Bakersfield 9-4

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Rallies From 6-0 Down, Wins 9-8

Bakersfield Californian: Roadrunners Unable to Complete Sweep

Monroe Star: Bakersfield Rallies to Beat La Tech

Meanwhile former CSUB pitcher Mike McCarthy wrote his latest ‘Life in the Minors’ Column for The Bakersfield Californian. This week he focused on the travel-grind of minor league life.

McCarthy also got the start yesterday for the Salem Red Sox as they defeated the Winston-Salem Dash. McCarthy was also facing his former CSUB teammate Martin Medina for the first time at the pro level. McCarthy earned the win pitching nicely allowing just one run in five innings of work. He improved to 2-1 on the season.  Medina was 1-3 with a run scored for the Dash.

In soccer former Roadrunner Gyasi Zardes made his home debut for the LA Galaxy coming in the match in the 55th minute. It was Zardes second appearance of the season since coming back from injury. LA lost 1-0 to Houston which was their first home loss of the season.

Here’s his postmatch interview after the loss.

Don’t forget the Spring BBQ is Thursday at the Icardo Center. Tickets are available online at GoRunners.com or at Vons, Russo’s Books or Mexicali Restaurants. You also still have time to head over to Bill Wright Toyota Scion and test drive a new vehicle and receive a free BBQ ticket. See you Thursday!

Thursday Morning Sports Page

Getaway Thursday for CSUB baseball as the Roadrunners look to continue their first-place spot in the WAC as they travel to Louisiana Tech for a three-game series starting tomorrow night at 6 P.M. CDT.

Bakersfield is 12-6 and tied with UT Arlington for the top spot.

Some results in from Wednesday where CSUB golf finished 8th at the American Sky Championships in San Antonio. The Roadrunners were led by senior Daniel Richardson who was 14th overall shooting four-over par for the tournament.

Bakersfield Californian: CSUB 8th in Final Golf Event

Speaking of conference championships, CSUB track and field is heading to their final Great West Championships this weekend in Humble, Texas. The ‘Runners have some highly-ranked individuals in both track and throwing events heading into the weekend so it should be a good one.

GoRunners.com: Bakersfield Ready for Great West Championships

CSUB will compete in the WAC in these sports next season.

Don’t forget the 41st Annual CSUB Athletics Spring BBQ and Auction is coming up a week from today at the Icardo Center. We have an 80′s Costume contest, tons of great silent auction items including Dodgers tickets, Angels tickets plus vacation packages and more.

Not to mention all the BBQ favorites like Harris Ranch NY steak or Teriyaki Chicken plus music from Foster Campbell and Friends.

For more information and to purchase tickets click here.

See you there!