The smell of tri-tip in the air, the sound of sunflower seeds and peanuts cracking, the bright lights on the southwest side of campus shining all meant one thing – Bakersfield College baseball has officially begun.
In a four-day round-robin tournament beginning on Jan. 29, Bakersfield played host to Allan Hancock, College of the Sequoias, El Camino College, Moorpark, and Porterville at Gerry Collis Field in the annual Light Brigade Tournament.
The Renegades went 2-1 for the weekend which left head coach Tim Painton pretty pleased.
“If you asked me going into this thing if I would’ve been happy being 2-1, I probably would’ve told you yes,” Painton said.
The Renegades’ opened up against preseason 20th-ranked El Camino College in the nightcap of a tripleheader on Jan. 30, which ended in walk-off fashion in extras after rallying from behind. Freshman outfielder Hanz Harker helped add a run to tie it up in the eighth at 1-1, and the score remained the same until the bottom of the 11th.
With two outs, sophomore outfielder Kaidan Meadows drilled the pitch into centerfield for an RBI single to seal it on opening night, 2-1.
The following night came BC’s next win against preseason 13th-ranked Allan Hancock, a team Bakersfield lost to 10-2 in the same tournament last season, where the Renegades once again just gave up one run as they cruised to a 3-1 victory.
Following a hot start by starting pitcher Allan Winans, reliever Ryan Guajardo, and Joe Bresson closing vs. El Camino, the second night was almost a carbon copy as the rotation continued to keep it going behind Connor Smith and Christian Sinnot with the defense staying consistent.
On those two wins against preseason-ranked opponents, Painton said: “Preseason rankings are popularity polls. It means nothing to me… but we played three good ball clubs. I set the schedule up to prepare us.”
BC fell just short of a weekend sweep Feb. 1 in an early afternoon matchup against Moorpark, losing 5-4.
“We didn’t handle the baseball in a couple situations,” Painton mentioned. “I don’t think we played poorly, I just don’t think we did enough to win a ballgame.”
Renegades baseball will be on the road for the next six games before