A way-too-early look ahead to the spring season
As both local colleges close the book on the fall semester, they are already beginning to look ahead to what the next term might hold. That means that Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield are slowly rolling out schedules for a slew of spring sports teams, including baseball and softball.
At BC, both of those teams will open the season at home. Baseball will play its first official game with new coach Kurt Townson at the helm against Moorpark, while softball begins its campaign for another deep playoff run against the same team that ended its championship dreams last year, Mt. SAC.
Schedules are still pending for beach volleyball, men’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis, but swimming starts Feb. 10 in Ventura and track and field begins Jan. 28 at Westmont.
Ahead of a full release, CSUB has teased its baseball schedule on social media by highlighting matchups with Baylor, Ohio State, Stanford and USC.
The crown jewel of the schedule appears to be a home series against the Buckeyes, which according to their website will take place a few weeks into the season, from March 10-12.
The softball team will have to be road warriors this season as its schedule does not currently include a home nonconference game.
The Roadrunners open the year at UCLA playing Utah State in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament on Feb. 12.
Track and field previously announced its opening day of Jan. 13, while the schedule for beach volleyball, last year’s latest-starting sport, is still to come.
If you’d like to remain firmly grounded in the present, read on for more of what’s happening this month.
BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE
Men’s basketball: The Renegades likely won’t have a week this busy for the rest of the season. Because of the Santa Barbara City Tournament and a rescheduled matchup against Oxnard, they played four games between Thursday and Tuesday, with another one coming up Thursday night against Cuesta. On the whole, it went well for BC, which narrowly beat No. 24 Long Beach City and Santa Barbara, fell flat against No. 7 San Bernardino Valley, then came back home to complete a season sweep
of Oxnard. Ipreye Egbe and Dusten Henderson posted career highs in points against the Vikings and Sean Fry did the same the following day to key the win over the Vaqueros. Overall, BC is now 6-5 on the year.
Wrestling: No state championships for BC this year, but a solid slate of honors nonetheless. Heavyweight Corbin Hayes came agonizingly close to the title but fell 3-2 to Modesto’s Carson Hatch in the final. James Juarez also earned runner-up status at 149 but lost a major decision to Felix Osorio of Cerritos. Hayes and Juarez were joined as All-Americans by Luke Combs at 174 as the Renegades concluded their season with a sixthplace team finish.
Miscellaneous and looking ahead: Women’s basketball returns to action Friday at Reedley.
CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
Women’s basketball: The Roadrunners continue to take their lumps during their brutal nonconference road schedule, this time suffering 27- and 21-point losses at Pepperdine and Sacramento State, respectively. CSUB is still without several top players, including Hennie van Schaik and Shaunae Brown, and its offense has yet to score 60 points in regulation this season. Sophomore guard Simone Johnson did play one of the best games of her career with a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double against Pepperdine. It doesn’t get any easier for the Roadrunners, as they still have to play UCLA Saturday before returning home to face Pacific on Dec. 22.
Miscellaneous and looking ahead: The Big West Conference announced Friday the upcoming addition of conference tournaments for volleyball, baseball and softball ... Men’s basketball will look to bounce back against a tough opponent in Abilene Christian as they finally return to the Icardo Center Saturday ... Coming off their triumphant performance in Princeton, N.J., which earned Mikayla Popham and Vili Sivec Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Athlete of the Week awards, the swimming and diving teams will host UC Santa Barbara this weekend.