COLLEGE ROUNDUP, Feb. 15-21: Tournament coming into focus

Feb. 22—With both Cal State Bakersfield basketball teams long disconnected from the Big West Conference's title race, their focus will have to shift to the upcoming conference tournament in Henderson, Nev., which begins March 7.

It's now becoming much clearer what sorts of challenges will await the Roadrunners when they arrive — extremely familiar ones, given that both teams played CSUN in the first round last year.

With four games left, the men's team is three games out of the No. 7 seed and three games up on No. 9 CSUN, which in turn has a two-game lead on last-place Cal Poly. The No. 8 and No. 9 teams play each other in the first round.

The women's team, itself a ninth seed, finds itself in a somewhat less predictable situation, but can come closer to cementing a matchup with No. 8 CSUN if it beats the Matadors this Thursday. Otherwise, it could potentially slide into last place and have to face Cal Poly or Cal State Fullerton.

Elsewhere, Bakersfield College's basketball teams have wrapped up their own seasons, while spring sports are just getting started.

Bakersfield College

Baseball: The Renegades split a pair of one-run games against Allan Hancock. They brought Manny Herrera to third base down 8-7 with two outs in the ninth inning against the Bulldogs last Thursday, but couldn't get him home; two days later, back in Bakersfield, they won 3-2 on Herrera's go-ahead eighth-inning sacrifice fly. In a third dramatic finish on Tuesday, the Renegades were shut out for eight innings, but Zamaree Tillman's first career home run helped them even the game at 2-2 entering extras. The Cougars immediately struck back with three runs on one hit and two errors and won 5-2, dropping BC to 6-6 ahead of a series with Golden West.

Men's basketball: BC snapped a five-game losing streak on Feb. 15, with four players scoring at least 14 points as the Renegades avenged a January loss to Santa Monica. However, at LA Valley, BC trailed by 13 points with 7:19 left before taking the lead with a 21-4 run, but missed a string of clutch shots late and lost 76-73, despite a season-high 20 points from Terrin Dickey. That was the Renegades' seventh loss by four points or fewer as they mustered a record of just 12-16.

Softball: During the past week, BC excelled in and out of conference. The Renegades shut out Western State opponents LA Mission (last Thursday) and Citrus (on Tuesday). They needed much more drama to conquer Pasadena City, which they beat 11-10 on an Anika Romo single after surrendering 8-3 and 10-8 leads. In the second half of its Friday doubleheader, BC got a much stronger performance out of pitcher Ryleigh Harrison, who allowed one earned run in a complete game as the Renegades beat fellow top-10 team Fullerton 3-1 to advance to 9-5 on the year. They play LA Valley Thursday.

Women's basketball: A year after securing their first playoff berth in seven years, the Renegades ended the 2022-23 season 7-21. Besides two forfeit wins, an injury-plagued BC squad went winless in conference and lost 11 of 12 games by double digits, concluding with an 89-53 loss at LA Valley last Friday.

Miscellaneous and looking ahead: Beach volleyball is back in action at Long Beach Friday, as is swimming at Mt. San Antonio College ... Women's tennis had a winning week, beating Santa Monica and Canyons but losing to American River, while the men's team beat Santa Barbara but lost to Riverside 5-4, closing a nine-match stretch away from home to open the year ... at the WSC Relays in Ventura, BC winners included Jack Evans in the men's pole vault, Neshara Smith in the women's 100 hurdles, Tearra Haney in four throwing events and the women's spring medley relay team.

Cal State Bakersfield

Baseball: CSUB started the season strong with a 3-1 series win over St. Thomas and an additional weekday victory at Saint Mary's Tuesday. Ryan Verdugo and Matt Comnos threw seven shutout innings apiece in season-opening starts. In the closest game of the five, Washington State transfer Kyler Stancato secured a sacrifice fly and an RBI single late to give the Roadrunners their 5-3 victory over the Gaels. They will be back home to host Manhattan for a four-game series starting Saturday.

Men's basketball: The Roadrunners split a pair of games, beating Cal Poly for the 10th straight time on Wednesday before losing a home matchup against Hawaii. Forward Antavion Collum continued his scoring tear; he has averaged 20 points per game across his last eight performances, picking up the slack after CSUB lost Kaleb Higgins in early January. The Roadrunners, at 6-10 in conference, will face CSUN in Northridge Thursday.

Softball: The Roadrunners claimed their first and second wins of the season by beating Montana twice in Las Vegas over the weekend, thanks in part to a walk-off single by Reina Castillo in the ninth inning Friday morning, but also lost twice to UNLV and once to Hawaii. CSUB nearly pulled an upset over its host Sunday, taking a seventh-inning lead on a Karissa Munsey grand slam, but the Rebels got to Brianna Sanchez for three runs and a walk-off to send the Roadrunners to 2-8. They will now play seven games in a four-day span, beginning with a doubleheader at New Mexico on Thursday.

Swimming and diving: The men's team finished sixth of eight squads and the women's team came in sixth of 10 at the conference championships in St. George, Utah, last week. Vili Sivec and Antonio Milin broke school records on the first two days before Sivec and Mikayla Popham each earned gold medals on the third day in their respective 200 free races. On the whole, the two combined for five medals across the entire competition.

Women's basketball: CSUB has lost eight of its last nine games to slide in the Big West standings. The Roadrunners shot 33 and 34 percent in losses to Cal Poly and Hawaii last Wednesday and Saturday, although they led in the fourth quarter against the Rainbow Wahine before allowing a decisive 14-2 run and losing 65-52. Taylor Caldwell reset her season high with 17 points in the foul-laden loss, but the Roadrunners dropped to 3-13 in conference ahead of Thursday's home matchup with CSUN.

Miscellaneous and looking ahead: Beach volleyball's opening weekend has been delayed due to weather ... Several members of the track and field team claimed wins at the Sunbird Invitational in Fresno Saturday, including individuals Julia Stein in the 100-meter hurdles, Riley Slayton in the 400-meter hurdles, Jesus Alvarez in the high jump and Javier Toro in the hammer throw .. Women's golf resumes its season in Sacramento Monday ... The wrestling team suffered a 42-0 loss in a dual meet at Arizona State last Friday to fall to 1-11.

Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.