When Marc Gomez came aboard as the Bakersfield College women's tennis coach in January 2022, right before the start of his first season, the Renegades had just eight players on the roster.
With a full offseason under his belt, and a full repertoire of talent, Gomez, who also serves as the Garces girls tennis coach, has produced substantial results. BC improved from seven wins in 2022 to 11 in 2023, with a Western State Conference title. Two doubles pairings (Hannah Purvis/Grecia De La Cruz and Abigail Reimer/Aleah Cisneros) and three singles players (first-teamers Reimer and Sara Vargas and second-teamer De La Cruz) earned all-conference distinctions, not to mention Gomez's own coach of the year honor.
The men's tennis team, under Noel Dalton, has experienced an upswing of its own this season, from 3-9 last season to 8-5 this year. The Renegade men, for their part, qualified four singles players and three doubles pairings for the state championships in Ojai, which begin April 27.
The California Community College Athletic Association regional team playoffs start Tuesday; matchups have yet to be revealed.
JUCO tennis may be the only sport with playoffs coming up within a week, but both local college campuses are hosting plenty of action.
Bakersfield College
Baseball: The Renegades are trending in the right direction (5-4 in their last nine games after a 10-game losing streak), but sustained some tough losses last week. Following a 10-1 weather-delayed defeat at LA Valley Thursday, they locked down the Monarchs 4-1 in the series decider behind eight scoreless innings and nine strikeouts from Kyle Langston. However, in a brief nonconference diversion at Reedley, they fell behind 7-0 early. BC nearly rallied in the ninth inning thanks to a balk, Manny Herrera two-RBI single, and throwing error, but Joseph Alatorre was tagged out at second for the final out of the 8-7 loss, dropping the Renegades to 11-19 entering their Reedley rematch Wednesday.
Softball: BC's struggles to dispatch a low-ranking Glendale team last Thursday did not bode well for the rest of its week, and sure enough, the Renegades took their second and third losses of the year to Santiago Canyon Saturday, 3-1 and 5-4, despite, in the second game, 13 hits and the tying run in scoring position in the final inning. They ventured out to Lancaster Tuesday for a rematch with Antelope Valley, which beat them in extra innings on March 9, and took another heartbreaking loss, 11-10 on a walk-off home run by Natasha Arroyo (her second of the game). Shelbie Valencia's 2-for-4, five-RBI performance was not enough for BC, which dropped to 14-11 ahead of a doubleheader against LA Mission Thursday.
Track and field: Cross-country and track athlete Francisco Felix committed to run at Division I Saint Mary's, headlining a week that also featured strong results for BC. Tearra Haney won all three throwing events at the Dave Shannon Invitational at El Camino Saturday and multi-sport athlete Sean Fry finished first in the long jump. The Renegades were scheduled to be in action at Saddleback through Wednesday and will compete next at Glendale Friday.Â
Miscellaneous and looking ahead: Beach volleyball lost 5-0 to Ventura in Santa Barbara Friday and will travel to Ventura for more conference matches this week ... Men's golf finished third against conference foes on a windy day at Rio Bravo Country Club Monday and will be back on the road at Glendale next week ... Men's swimming finished fourth in a meet at Canyons, with Jay Hill winning the 1650 free, while the women's team came in third with a first-place finish from Aydee Arredondo in the same event.
Cal State Bakersfield
Baseball: CSUB lost a lead in the middle innings in its series opener against UC Davis Friday on its way to a 5-4 loss, but that didn't compare in severity to what happened the next day. The Roadrunners jumped out to a 5-1 lead after the first inning and made their margin as wide as six runs on a Connor Culp RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, before the Aggies brought home 13 of their own against the CSUB bullpen and won 14-7. A measure of redemption came the next day as two-way freshman standout Jacob Gutierrez allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings in his first start and the Roadrunners won 7-1, but they are still just 10-16 (1-8 in conference) entering Thursday's matchup with Hawaii.
Beach volleyball: By improving to 13-6 Friday with 5-0 wins over Saint Katherine and San Francisco, the Roadrunners set a new single-season mark for wins. Hana Makonova is also now just one win away from tying Sydney Haynes for the school's individual wins record. She'll have a chance to reach or exceed it Saturday, when CSUB hosts Pacific and Cal Poly.
Softball: The Roadrunners now rank 291st nationally in ERA and 292nd in batting average out of 295 teams after getting outscored 61-4 across six straight run-rule losses. That included three to UC Davis over the weekend to drop CSUB to 6-26 overall, ahead of a second straight home series, this time against UC Santa Barbara beginning Friday.
Track and field: CSUB made the drive up to Fresno State for the West Coast Relays. Miranda Miller earned her sixth straight win of the season in the pole vault, as Helena Valentic also recorded a season-best time and first-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Four additional Roadrunners set personal bests. The team will compete again at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Saturday.
Miscellaneous and looking ahead: Men's basketball added redshirt senior Sacramento State transfer guard Cameron Wilbon ... Vili Sivec earned the title of top freshman in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after earning a conference title in the 200 free, plus second place in the 200 fly, as part of an impressive first campaign in Bakersfield ... Women's soccer added incoming freshman defender Jenna Largent of Riverside.
Taft College notes: In a busy week, the Cougars (11-18) played four baseball games on four straight days, splitting a pair of matchups with Porterville to seal a series win, falling 13-8 to conference foe Reedley, then beating Compton 5-3 behind 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball from Landon Riley.
Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.
