The Golden Grizzlies opened up their 2022 baseball season this past weekend, going against the California State-Bakersfield Roadrunners and leaving with a 2-1 series victory. 

In the first game, the score stayed knotted together at 0 as neither team could score until the third inning. The Roadrunners broke the tie with their first score of the game on an RBI from an Andrew Allanson single. The Grizzlies ended the inning quickly after that, with starter Bryce Konitzer striking out the next batter. 

The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning, where the Golden Grizzlies rattled off three straight runs to take the lead by two. The Golden Grizzlies continued their scoring ways into the sixth inning, scoring one more run to get the score up to 4-1. 

The Roadrunners didn’t respond to the scoring barrage until the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring four straight runs to overtake the lead 5-4. This is a lead that the Roadrunners would hold onto until the 27th out, taking home the first win of the series. 

The second game started in a similar vein to the first one, as the Roadrunners captured the first lead of the day with an early first inning run, setting their lead up 1-0. The Golden Grizzlies responded in kind in the following inning, scoring on a Brenton Phillips solo home run and tying the game at 1-1. This stalemate would not last long, as the Golden Grizzlies rattled off five straight runs in the third inning to extend their lead to 6-1.

The Roadrunners, not to be outdone, scored four straight runs to close the gap in the score to 6-5. The Golden Grizzlies extended their lead by two, increasing the score to 8-5. The Roadrunners closed the gap again, scoring one more run before the end of the sixth inning. 

By the end of the ninth inning, the Golden Grizzlies scored two more runs to increase the game winning score to 10-6. This win for the Golden Grizzlies tied the series up 1-1, setting up an all-important final game to decide the series victor. 

The final series deciding game was a fairly slow affair, with neither team scoring until the fifth inning where the Golden Grizzlies scored the first run of the game on an RBI single by Seth Tucker. The Grizzlies would follow this up with another run in the sixth inning, three more in the seventh inning, and two more in the eighth inning. 

The Golden Grizzlies, in the series-deciding game, pitched a complete shutout, highlighted by five shutout innings from starter Jacob Wosinski. The Grizzlies’ offense continued to batter the Roadrunners’ pitching staff with seven runs in four innings. Starting off the season with a 2-1 record and currently being on a two-game winning streak, the Golden Grizzlies will look to take this momentum into their series with their next opponent. 

The Golden Grizzlies baseball team will return to the diamond to face off in their second straight road series of the baseball season against the New Mexico State Aggies in Las Cruces, New Mexico.