The Renegades went to Taft to take on the Cougars on Thursday. Bakersfield has been struggling recently, losing 3 of their last 4 prior to Thursday, and looking to turn the ship around and get back on track.

The Gades started hot with a lead-off homer by centerfielder Jacob Baker giving Bakersfield a 1-0 lead after the first. Bakersfield would score another 4 runs in the third giving them a 5-0 lead. David Villegas got the start on the mound for Bakersfield and was able to retire the first 8 batters to start the game, but a 2-out rally in the third inning gave Taft 4 runs to cut the deficit to one.

Bakersfield was not able to help their cause as they gave up another 3 runs in the 4th, and then 3 more in the 5th. The Renegades would make the call to pitcher Brady Fox out of the bullpen in hopes he could help stop Taft’s scoring. Villegas’ game was finished after going 4.1 innings, giving up 10 earned runs with just two strikeouts. Bakersfield would score 2 more runs, but after 6 innings the score was 10-7 Taft. Fox would hold Taft to no runs in the 7th and BC would tie the game in the 8th off a 3-run blast by catcher Miguel Castillo.

The bottom of the 8th began with an out, but disaster struck when Taft’s shortstop Jesus Cruz was hit by a pitch, and eventually advanced to third off of two costly errors by the Renegades. Taft’s second baseman Sean Ogrin would ground out, but still gave Cruz enough time to score to put the Renegades down 11-10. BC’s half of the 9th started out the exact way they had hoped with the first two batters getting on base with no outs. However the next three batters would all strikeout leaving both the tying and go-ahead runs on base as BC lost another heartbreaker. 

BC has now lost 4 of their last 5, and are hoping to get back on track Feb. 11 as they head to Ventura to play the Pirates.