MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball led 3-2 going into the seventh inning on Tuesday afternoon before the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners came back to win 5-3.
 
The Gaels got on the board first when Bill Ralston drew a bases loaded walk in the third inning, though SMC would leave them loaded after that.
 
Saint Mary's would trade two-for-one in the fourth when they turned a double play as a run scored for Cal State Bakersfield to tie the game.
 
But the Gaels would answer in a big way in the bottom of the inning, when Dalton Mashore lifted a ball to right field that cleared the fence for a two-run homer to score Jared Mettam and put SMC ahead 3-1.
 
It stayed that way till the sixth when the Roadrunners would score a run on a base hit to bring them within one at 3-2.
 
Things would go sideways for the Gaels in the seventh when CSU Bakersfield scored two runs to take the lead without a hit. Connor Linchey had a magnificent start for SMC, going five innings and allowing just one run on two hits with no walks and one strikeout.
 
The Gaels went to their usually reliable reliever Jack Snook, who had his own great performance on opening day with four innings of one-run ball and five Ks, but was uncharacteristically wild on Tuesday.
 
Snook thought he had a called third strike on a back-door slider that just missed the plate on 2-2, and would issue a walk to the leadoff man on the next pitch. Another walk followed and an error by Snook on a pick-off attempt at second that was errant allowed the runner to move up to third. A wild pitch scored that runner and another walk was issued before the Gaels turned to Preston Howey.
 
Bakersfield bunted two runners into scoring position and a sac fly game them the lead. Howey would get a fly out to end the inning after that, as he had a much better outing than in his first appearance of the season.
 
Saint Mary's would threaten in the eight with runners at the corners and one out, but would leave them stranded. The unforced errors and stranding runners would prove to be the Gaels undoing on the day, as they were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners.
 
The Roadrunners would tack on one more in the top of the ninth on another sac fly to get some insurance, before the Gaels stranded their final runner of the game in the bottom of the inning.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will play their first road series of the season at UT San Antonio February 24-26.