For this visit home, Cal State Bakersfield designated hitter Brock Perreira’s family provided him with Spam musubi and kalua pig.
On Friday night, Perreira feasted on a changeup for the tie-breaking home run in the 10th inning to lift CSUB to a 7-6 victory over Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 2,057 saw Perreira, a Kaiser High graduate, break a 6-all tie when he smacked an Isaiah Magdaleno pitch just inside the right-field pole in the 10th inning. The ’Bows went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
“I can’t even put into words how excited I am,” Perreira said. “This is my home state. To hit the go-ahead home run in front of my family and friends means the most to me.”
The ’Bows fell to 26-14 overall and 10-12 in the Big West. It was their fourth Division I loss in a row and eighth setback in the past nine games against a league opponent. It was the first time in 17 games the ’Bows did not win after leading after the sixth inning.
That all changed when the left-swinging Perreira stepped into the batter’s box with one out in the extra inning. Noting it is “very tough” to hit a home run at Murakami Stadium, Perreira focused on Magadaleno’s changeup.
“I got a pitch elevated in the zone, and put a good swing on it, and did what I could with it,” Perreira said.
After a postgame, on-field team meeting, Perreira walked toward the visitors’ dugout as about 50 CSUB fans chanted: “MVP! MVP!”
The Roadrunners twice fought back against the ’Bows, who were led by first baseman Ben Zeigler-Namoa’s 4-for-5 performance. But that was not enough to counter the Roadrunners’ 17-hit attack.
Down 5-3, the Roadrunners loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. Pinch hitter Cody Hendriks’ two-run single tied it at 5.
The ’Bows went ahead 6-5 when Zeigler-Namoa doubled and then came home on Kamana Nahaku’s run-scoring single to left in the eighth.
But in the ninth, CSUB’s Nick Mascaro placed a bunt along the third-base line that rolled and then stopped in fair territory. Mascaro stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Two outs later and down to the last strike, Michael Pollard singled to center to bring home Mascaro with the tying run.
The ’Bows had not scored a run in 25 consecutive innings against Big West opponents when they rallied for a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning.
The ’Bows loaded the bases on Jordan Donahue’s walk, Jared Quandt’s single to left and Kedren Kinzie’s bunt that pitcher Ryan King could not field cleanly. After pinch hitter Aidan Kuni struck out, Matthew Miura singled to right, bringing home Donahue and Quandt to tie it at 2. Kinzie scored on Shunsuke Sakaino’s bunt single to give the ’Bows a 3-2 lead. Later, Miura would score the ’Bows’ fourth run on Itsuki Takemoto’s sacrifice fly.
The ’Bows made it 5-2 in the sixth when Miura led off with a double and came home on Zeigler-Namoa’s RBI single up the middle.
Takemoto spaced seven hits and walked two but worked his way out of jams with minimal damage in the first three innings. He allowed two hits in 51⁄3 innings.
Sebastian Gonzalez, who exited last week’s start after one inning when he was struck on the left (pitching) forearm, replaced Takemoto with two on and one out in the sixth. Gonzalez induced the next two outs to end that threat. But Gonzalez gave up a run in the seventh as the Roadrunners chipped into their deficit.
