Throughout the 2010 season, CSUB sophomore Jonathan Montoya will be giving you an inside look at Roadrunner baseball program. Tune in all season as Jonny gives a first person perspective on what it is like to be a member of the baseball team at CSUB!

Friday, June 4, 2010
Well a lot has happened since the last time I updated you and I'm really sorry about that. I'm going to try and make this one a pretty long one. So either get ready to catch up on history or come back when it's convenient for you. I haven't updated you through five games. Shame on me. So let's get to it!

May 25th, we met with UCSB for the last time of the season. Sam Jones, senior lefty, got the start against the Gauchous. We scored 13 to their 10 and Sam picked up the win. In the first 5 innings we scored a consecutive 11 runs and added a run in both the 7th and 8th inning. We went 2-0 against UCSB on the year.

Our next oppenent was another midweek game at Loyola Marymount. This game was the 10th start of my season. It didn't go all that well at all. In the first 5 innings the Lions outscored us 9-1. I allowed two walks and gave up nine hits for five earned runs in three innings. Real gay. Spenser came in and did his thing striking out 3 batters in 1.1 innings of relief. The man from the mound of this game was, Zach Arneson, who went 4.2 innings striking out 3 and walking 3. He didn't give up a single hit during his outting in his first collegiate win. At the plate, the man of the day was Derek Geisinger. He crushed a go ahead grand slam in the 8th that would ultimately take care of the runs we needed. The final score was 13-9, one of the best comebacks of the year in my opinion.

Our last 3 games of the year were played at Bagget Stadium, against the Cal Poly Mustangs. This was the seniors last college games of their lives and it was one of the roughest we played. Mickey Jannis started Fridays game on May 28th, resulting in a 3-12 lose. The highlight of the weekend was Saturdays game against the Mustangs. Freshman Juan Padilla earned his first collegiate start on his 19th birthday. He only allowed two hits and struck out six in 7.1 innings. Sounds like a pretty good Bday present from the baseball gods to me. We claimed the win scoring 12 to their 8. The following day, Sunday May 30, was our last game of the season. The last time the seniors stepped foot onto the ball field. It was actually our 3rd senior day too, including our own. We were a part of TCU and SLO's senior days. Our last game was pretty brutal. They just put on a hit show and out scored us a big 25-8. We concluded our second season of existence with a 26-30 overall record, doubling last years inaugural win total.

We definitely had a good run this year and hope for the best for those seniors. It seriously won't be the same without those guys. We started out with 13 freshman and 12 seniors last year, now we are losing 9 of the seniors. It won't be the same because we were the 25 that started this program. We started it from the ground up and now our team is splitting. It's going to be a tough transition i think. We have new guys coming in, hopefully we can blend pretty well. This year the guys formed a pretty unique bond. We had good camaraderie together and showed it throughout the year. I would love to show you all the pictures I took throughout the year cause there are hundreds!

So what's good for the summer you ask? Well summer ball is callin my name and I'm going. My destination is the Northwoods league in Mankato, Minnesota. I'll be playing for the Mankato Moondogs. Lucky for me I was paired up with our catcher Jrod. Our summer season has already started, but the two of us are flying out of LAX on June 14th. The Northwoods league is one of the longest summer seasons ending on August 16th, not including the playoffs and what not. So this summer of mine is dedicated to more baseball. Last summer I had it easy. I was able to sleep in whenever I wanted and hang out with friends and my girlfriend every day. Now it's me, my glove, and the ball doin our thing out in Minnesota. This should be a great experience for me. It'll give me the feel of what a short minor league season would be like. I'm even living with a host family for 2 months. I'm looking forward to it, but hopefully I also have time for friends and family after the season ends.

I hope that this last entry made up for all the days I missed out on. Hope you enjoyed reading about my life and following the season with me. I actually had fun with my first blog ever and would actually do something similiar over summer. If I can figure it out i'll try and do one over summer?!?! I'll think about it. Oh and by the way, just in case you were wondering how school went. I passed both my classes and turned in pretty good work for class. It was hard to attend classes with all the travel but my professor worked things out with me and I got things done. Until next year, hope everyone has a great summer. You can go to the baseball page for a review of stats if you'd like to see them. So long Runner fans, see you at Hartd Field next season.

Saturday, May 22, 2010 (in Texas)
Hey guys, sorry it has been so long since I've updated this bad boy. In the last 13 days or so we've played six games. No midweek games just two three game series. We took the series from University of Pacific last weekend. Sunday was our first ever CSUB senior day. I'm not gonna lie, I will miss the seniors. It's going to be a lot different next year, after losing nine seniors. Those group of guys are pretty special. Each one of them made a commitment to this program to help get us going. Many of us have gotten close, some closer than others. But all in all, we created a brotherhood. At least thats how I feel anyways. I've made some life long friends and I know I will keep in touch with a lot of them. Im glad we won the series for the seniors last home games ever.

On to this weekend now. We were excited for our final plane trip to Texas. We thought we were ready to take on a top ten team in the nation. Texas Christian University is ranked 6th in the nation and we liked our chances. We've been doing really as a team, but only managed to score one run the whole weekend against the Horned Frogs. We just couldn't seem to bring anyone around the bases. There are two things I wanted to mention about this weekend.

On Thursday's game TCU pulled their 3rd largest attendance ever. Second thing was that something very odd happened during our second game on Friday. During the middle of the 7th inning the lights went out. Just shut off on us. The weirdest thing that has ever happened to me during an outing. I came in relief in the 3rd inning and made it up until the 7th inning after the lights went off. I stayed for a couple more batters and handed the ball off to Draxton. We just had a bad weekend in general and already want to get back on the field and play UCSB on Tuesday at their place.

Wish us luck this next week. We have a total of 5 games left on the season. We have two midweek games. Tuesday's is at UCSB, Wednesday's game is at LMU, then we finish off the season with a three game series against Cal Poly. We are lookin for some revenge on the Mustangs. Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll be writing again :) Have a good day ya dig!

Sunday, May 9, 2010 5:48 PM
First off, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you mothers out there. I love my mom very much and I'm glad she brought me into this world :) Well, with that being said, this weekend was quite a success for our program. As a team we took a big step for our program. We went toe to toe with the Arizona Wildcats and came away with the series. It was our first time to win a series against a Pac-10 team. Not to mention, it was at their place. So technically we made Roadrunner history. We also beat our most runs in a game record today.

Friday's game was the closest of the three. The score was tied at 2 by the 9th so we went 2 extra innings against them and won in the 11 innings of play. We scored a 5 spot in the top of the 11th and shut them down in the bottom of the inning making the score 7-2. That was our first win against a highly ranked team. They were ranked 20th and we beat 'em. We went into Saturday's game knowing that they would come after us and they did. We lost the game 17-6. They probably thought that Friday was a fluke, but we sure brought it to them today. Before the game the coaches brought us together and told us that if we lost, we would be the coach of U of A's 1,000th career win. We weren't about to let that happen. So our offense jumped right out scoring 7 in the first two innings, which was enough to win todays game. But it was our turn to show no mercy. We scored 22 runs to their 5 and won the series.

I just enjoyed a Philly roll at this bomb sushi place. The price wasn't too bad. I'm waiting at our terminal with the guys and we just saw ourselves on tv. They showed us smashing U of A and it was pretty cool to see. We are about to board now so I'll write more later.
   

8:00 PM
I am on the plane headed back to Bako from Phoenix now. I have some time to just type away so I think thats what I'll do. Our first flight was super short. We basically lifted off and then landed. This flight is supposed to be just a little over an hour so I think I'll just hold off on sleeping till we get back home. I guess the weather back in Bako isn't so pretty. I've been expecting sunny, hot weather for the rest of the season but I guess not.

Our last home game series is this coming weekend against University of Pacific. We finished off our season last year at their place. This time we are playing our last home game series against them at our place. It is actually our first senior day as well. I can't believe how fast this season flew by. It's going to suck saying bye to all the seniors, but I'm sure we'll have some good players coming in. The group of guys we have had these past two years have gelled well. We have really come together as a team and proved that we have become a better team. There is no way we could be winning games like this last year, but this year we knew what we were up against. I'm glad how fast we have picked things up and I can't wait to see how next year turns out.

We are descending now so I gotta shut down. Im gonna add pictures before I post this. You can also go to my Facebook and check out my pictures from this weekend. I took plenty. Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day weekend!

Thursday, May 6, 2010 4:16 PM
Welcome back to me I guess. Sorry for leaving everyone out of the loop. The last couple of weeks we've played 8 games. Two three-game series and two midweek games. Real fast update, but we got swept by UCR and it wasn't a good series. But we had our next opportunity to bounce back April 27, against Loyola Marymount. We won that game 13-3. I had a pretty good outing against them throwing 5.1 innings of relief, striking out five while giving up three walks and six hits for three runs.

After those two opponents we were fortunate enough to throw the ball around at UC Irvine. Everyone loved playing on that field. The field was crisp and the weather was perfect. Couldn't have asked for anything better. I even had the chance to stay home that weekend and spend time with family and my girlfriend. We played three extremely close games with the Eaters losing to them by one run each game. We are able to compete with highly ranked teams and are looking to finally win a tough game coming up against University of Arizona. Our midweek game after the UCI series was against UCSB.

Let me tell you, that this was the best game i've ever pitched in my life. Not to mention the fastest game too. I pitched my first career shutout while also setting a career high 10 strikeouts. If you want to find out more about the game just click on the stats and click on the baseball game. We are waiting at the airport in Bakersfield waiting to board but we are actually boarding soon. Check this out, so we are flying out of Bako on two different planes. One plane is flying into San Fran, while the other flight is going to LAX. The LAX crew will get to Tucson first. Pretty interesting huh? Well i'll be writing this weekend to kill time. Hope everyone had a fun !Cinco de Mayo! Wish us luck this weekend! And BVD says hi!

Friday, April 23, 2010 12:04 PM
Good afternoon everyone. I am currently riding on the good ol Bird Bus headed to UC Riverside. We have a three-game series that starts tonight at 6 PM. Last year we had a pretty interesting three-game series that took place at Hardt Park. Last year we played the longest game in CSUB baseball history, against the Highlanders. We played a 15-inning game that we won with a Jason Kudlock walk-off homerun.

We are currently 4-2 against Big West teams this season. We grabbed two wins from Cal State Northridge and snagged two more wins from UC Davis. This will be the third Big West team that we face this year and we are looking to prove that we belong in their conference. We are still trying to achieve a spot on the Big West Conference for next year. The team figures, that if we show them we have what it takes by beating Big West teams, we should have a better chance at getting into the conference. Well, at least thats how I feel about the whole situation.

Off the topic of baseball, in my Art 210 class, I just turned in a pretty wicked project. I don't know about you, but I've always grown up with a night light in my room. Now that I've been on my own for a while, I took my night light style up and went with the flameless luminary that Febreeze created. Its design is pretty classy and simple, but can catch anyones eye when lit. I attached two at the base and connected them with velcro and also attached a hook so I could hang it on the wall. The finished product looks like an oriental design dimmed light. It could actually be put in hotels if you ask me. You could probably set two up above your bed for a beautiful look. Our next project that we have to do, is create a fantasy car. I have a few ideas in mind, but I wont share them with you until I turn it in :) Well I'm going to stop here for now because we just popped in I Love You, Man. Have a great day, stay tuned for updates on the weekend.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 11:30 AM
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry it has been quite some time since i've written. A lot has happened since the last time I've recorded something. After the win that Mickey Jannis picked up after beating CSUN, Jr. Matt Reyes threw a complete game shutout. Congrats to him on his excellent efforts. Our third game of the series, we were looking to sweep the Matadors but were unable to finish off the sweep.

The following series, we played the Aggies. UC Davis had beaten us last year and we were looking to show them how much we've grown from last time. Let me tell you, we've come a long way. This weekend we managed to score a total of 42 runs and came across a tough loss to swallow. The opening game of the series we had a 10-3 lead going into the 9th inning and we managed to give up 9 runs and couldn't answer back. We lost the series opener, 11-12. But we came out swinging again the following day and put ourselves in the same exact position we were in the previous day. We won the game 12-4 and finished them off the last day scoring 19 runs against their 8.

Next on the board we have LMU. We are headed there as I type, in the trusty bird bus. On the 99 we've already come across a huge dust storm. It was like that movie starring Mark Wallbherg, The Fog. We were being pushed back and forth and before we knew it drove into a huge brown cloud. We couldn't even see the car ahead of us and we were hoping nobody would hit us from behind. Then, a little further past the dusty waves we saw power lines catching on fire. As if there was a fireball going along the wire. It was some crazy stuff. We're anxious to get off this bus and suit up for battle. Again, we are showing another team how much we've grown in the past year. The score is going to be, what we decide it is going to be. I'll try to stay on top of this journal, to keep you informed. Hope you've had a terrific Tuesday.
 
3:27 PM
Unfortunately we are back on the bus again, due to challenging weather. It was starting to rain as soon as we got there. The Lions finished up with their BP and then it started raining. We waited it out for over an hour and they decided since the weather was going to remain that way for a while. Now we are truckin' through some pretty bad traffic. Everyone knows how bad the traffic can be during the rainy days, well we are stuck in the bird bus trying to get home. Hopefully we can get back in somewhat good timing, but I'm sure this traffic will hold us back for a while. Just giving you guys a follow up on how our day has turned out. I got to miss school, just so I can sit in the traffic. Sweet!

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Good morning followers!!! We are on the bird bus, driving to Cal State University Northridge. We departed from the field at 9 a.m. and expected to get there in maybe a little under an hour and a half. Going back to Wednesday, our game against USC was a dog fight. Mike McCarthy pitched really well, but we didn't score enough runs. One of our sayings in this program for our offense is, “to score one more than they do.” If you live by that rule sounds like you could win a lot of games kind of don't you think? It really isn't as easy as it sounds. There is a lot of thought behind baseball. If you think about it, each at bat consists of a nine on one battle, with the pitcher leading the squad to a routine or tough out. Some people don't look into the momentum changes between the teams. Momentum definitely helps teams out by, keeping the at bats flowing and the outs coming. That's just a couple of little things to think about.

Enough about that, but we did go out for a W and Mickey Jannis grabbed it, throwing a complete game against CSUN. We won 6-3 yesterday, April 9th in our hometown. We will be finishing up the series on there home field, with a game today and one tomorrow. Follow us online if you have time to check us out. If not, continue following Jaymoments and I will do my best at keeping you guys updated. For now, I'm closing the lappy and relaxin' on this bus ride headed closer to home. Oh happy days.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010
I know, I know it has been a while since i've written anything, but what matters now is I'm writing. I'm actually writing on the bus right now, on the way to USC.

The last four games we've had a midweek game against Stony Brook and a series against Fresno State. We won the midweek game, but we unfortunately got swept in three dog fights against the Bulldogs. So we are out to get a team and stop this losing spurt. It ends today, with a series coming up against CSUN on the weekend.  We will have a home game on Friday against the Matadors, with two games at their place the next couple of days.

Off the topic of baseball, I've been doing really well in my art 3d design class. We are working on an egg drop project. There are many jr./high school student who do this project but i've never come across it, until now. I've thought past the generic ideas and went with a unique approach. I went for the helium ballon effect. Where the helium in the balloons try to hold the weight of the egg. The egg plus the craft the egg is held in force the carrier to drop. Hopefully I can get enough balloons to carry Mr. Humpty Dumpty. The objective of the project is to touchdown your egg without it even having the  slightest crack. So I'm hoping for an A+. I mean, the design is pretty sweet if you ask me but, it's got to man up and do its job. This project will be tested and graded April 8.

In my other art class we just started drawing live models. It was different, something I've never done before and only seen in movies. It is a pretty tricky skill to grasp. You have to be able to get the proportions down and make sure your limbs aren't the same size or smaller than your head. There are things that can throw your art off such as drawing the head too big and having undersized arms and legs. Or the other way around. There are an abundance of techniques to get this amazing art onto your sketch pad.

Enough about school and more onto the past holiday. I had a pretty good Easter back at home with family. I got the chance to go watch my mom sing in her beautiful choir for church. She sings at St. Paul The Apostle Catholic Church.

So many families were there that don't usually go. Everyone knows that Easter and Christmas are the most popular days to go to church. I attended my girlfriends family party little did I know, a natural disaster would occur. That 7.2 earthquake that originated down in Mexicali. I had plenty of friends say that it was a pretty big one and I guess I just didn't feel it as bad. My sister said it was making big waves in our aunt's pool. I barely caught the end of it. I pray that everyone is safe down there and hope everything gets better soon.

Well, I'm going to get prepared for my game cause I might have an appearance.

Friday, March 26, 2010 9:40 AM
Good morning readers. I am currently in my hotel room at the Best Western in Moscow, Idaho. I know we are playing Washington State, but Moscow is right at the edge of the borderline. So sometime this trip, I want to be able to be standing in two states at the same time. Anyways, yesterday was our first of three plane flights throughout the season. We were lucky enough to fly out of Bako's very own airport. Although we had a couple hour layover in Phoenix we finished our flying in Spokane, Wash.

I love flying as a team together because it is the closest feeling to being a professional ball player we can get without getting paid to play. Also there is one thing I want to bring up about plane trips, the sky mall magazine. This magazine has unreal gadgets and gizmos, but if I had the money, I would probably buy everything inside of it. The next time you fly, try to remember and check it out because the things inside or pretty interesting.

When traveling by plane you might get lucky enough to see some big names. Last year I actually had the chance to meet Reggie Miller who played with the Indiana Pacers. Yesterday, some of the guys and myself were fortunate to run into the comical magicians, Penn & Teller. Mick Gaston spotted them out and we had to take a snap shot with them, so we had to ask. They were all for it and struck up their last pose before leaving the airport in Spokane.

We are scheduled for four games against Washington State. One game today at 5:30 PM, a double header tomorrow starting at 2 PM and the second game starting at 5 PM, Our last game is scheduled at 12 noon on Sunday and we don't leave for home until Monday.

We just took the series against San Jose and are really clicking in as a team. We are looking forward to playing a Pac 10 team and would love to win the series against the Cougars. They have a turf field and the weather here is a little different then Bako at this time. It's pretty cold out here but we packed our warm clothes and big blueberry jackets. Hope you guys enjoyed this longer entry and I plan on writing another one before we touchdown in Bako. I believe you can follow our games on our page under multimedia. Hope you have a great weekend. I'll be writing soon.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
MY QUARTER IS OVER and spring break is next week! So I have a two week spring break. Not having to wake up early and go to class is amazing. This past weekend we took the series from Reno. We won Friday's game and also Sunday's game. We had a close game Saturday and we should've swept them. You can view how we did by going onto our baseball athletics page.

This week is finals week so the guys are focusing even more on school and studying for their tests. I'm positive that I aced both of my finals. Now onto the good stuff, art classes. To be honest, I actually finished up a painting that I started over winter break this morning, now that I have time in the mornings. For this weekend coming up, we have a three game home series against San Jose State. Last year we got swept at their hometown and now we are looking to turn that around. Game times this weekend are 2:30 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Our season has made an improvement from last year and we are striving to be even better.

I got the chance to visit home Monday after I finished my last final. Chino Hills is where I hail from and man was it great to be home. Even though it was for a short period of time I got to be with my loved ones. I was able to catch up with my Mom and even take my sister to school on Tuesday. The best part of coming home was I got to spend time with my girlfriend at the beach! We couldn't have asked for a better night in Huntington. The weather was perfect and the sound of the waves crashing down on the sand was amazing. There is nothing like the feeling of cool sand in between your toes. It was like a summer night in March. Cuddled up in blankets with my babe, in a tank and shants, just looking up at the stars. A night in Bako is shivery cold, but the beach was perfect.

Well, I'm about to go turn in some books at the bookstore to make some MONEY!! Hopefully I get more than 10 bucks. If thats the case, I always just keep them and in the future I can have a nice collection of books that can be quite useful. Hope to see you at the field this weekend. Have a great week!

Thursday, March 11, 2010
It feels like I haven't written an entry in so long. I don't even know where to start. I haven't talked about much in a while. As the season has progressed our record now stands at 5-7. With this three game series against University of Nevada, we are hoping to improve our record. Since the last time I wrote, we finally went on our first away trip to San Francisco. We played a couple of mid week games out there and got back Wednesday around 11:30 PM. I've never been there before and, let me tell you, it is a city of its own. We got the chance to walk the streets and check out some sites. It is a beautiful city and I wish we could've extended our visit. We played a couple of tough games out there, not scoring a single run. Our pitching has come a long way though since last year and it was shown these past couple of games. New incoming junior pitcher Matt Reyes held the Dons to only three runs and sophomore Brandon Van Damn only gave up two runs in his starting appearance. But neither of them got the run support they needed for a win. Hopefully this weekend we can turn it around and string together some wins.

I've been really busy with ball and school. Next week is finals week, but I actually have one tomorrow. So I've been studying quite a bit for my finals and am looking forward to Spring Break! A week without school is always good for athletes :) I'm also looking forward to taking a couple of art classes next quarter.

These 11 days have already flown by and before we know it this month will be over. I'm looking forward to traveling more and playing teams at their parks. Don't get me wrong, I love home games, but away games just make me feel more like a pro. Being able to stay in nice hotels and travel with the team is fun and winning on the road is that much better.

Tomorrow we are looking to end this little losing streak and get revenge against the Wolf Pack. They swept the series last year and we would love to turn it around on them. Hopefully you guys can make it out this weekend and support us in this series. Tomorrow's game will begin at 2 PM. While Saturdays game starts at 1 and Sundays game will commence at 12. Hope you guys have been staying in tune with what's going on with our team. Hope to see you at the field. Have a good one followers!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Well today was a pretty big tease for the team. We were supposed to start our game at 6:05 PM today at good ol Fresno State but we stopped about ten minutes out on the road and had to turn around. Lucky for us we had practice instead. By the end of practice, sure enough the rain come rollin' through Bako too. Due to this mishap the rotation got pushed back a game. We aren't sure as to when we are going to make this game up, but we know we'll still be ready for em. The series against Northern Illinois is still on, but hopefully we don't have to deal with a lot of rain again. The forecast calls for more unfortunately. Hopefully we can manage to get all three games in.

School is going pretty well right now. My grades are doing quite well this quarter and I'm looking forward to the next quarter. I'll be taking some art classes finally that I am actually looking forward to.

Well, I know this is pretty short, but I'm headed out to the rec center right now to get a good, crisp workout in. Hope to see you guys at the field this weekend. Have a good night!

Monday, March 1, 2010
Happy March everyone! I can't believe how fast this year is going by. Felt like just yesterday I was celebrating New Years. March 16th is the last day of classes for this winter 2010 quarter. Until then we have nien games to play, three of them which we will be traveling to. This Wednesday we get the chance to play our rivals, Fresno State, at their place. Mickey Jannis is throwing the rock that game which is set to start at 6:05 PM. The other two away games we have until the end of the quarter, are going to be played at San Francisco. That should be a pretty nice get away from Bakersfield. Road trips are great because its like living the professional lifestyle. Traveling and being able to stay in nice hotels is great. Usually getting a continental breakfast and some meal money to go along with road trips. Well enough about talking traveling, let me fill you in on this past weekend.

We started off the weekend with good weather but a tough extra-inning loss against St. Mary's. By Friday late afternoon the weather turned around and it got really windy which usually brings in the rain. Sure enough on Saturday our game against Central Michigan had an hour rain delay after the 1st inning and we didn't even get to finish the game the same day. We were losing by one and had to finish it the next morning. It took us till the bottom of the 9th with two outs to finally win the game. Brandon Boren hit in the game-winning run to make us 1-1 before our final game of the weekend. Unfortunately our game against Cal didn't turn out to be quite a game. We lost pretty bad, but found things that we need to work on to improve our season from here on out.

We are looking forward to playing in a nice stadium on Wednesday and want to bring home our first road win. If you would like to follow the game you can go to gorunners.com and click on the baseball section under mens sports and see how the game is progressing. Hope you had a good weekend.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:30 A.M.
What a weekend that was! Starting off the season to a good start. The fly over to start the season was insane! The jets were so loud they caused car alarms to go off after they flew by.

We were lucky that we got to play the Air Force as our season opener. We got the chance to remember many veterans who fought for our country and applauded them for what they've done for us. Also, I thought that watching the other team salute to the flag was pretty cool. They were so perfect in their form and I love when things are perfectly aligned.

A quick summary from the mound and how the starters threw their first game. Game 1: Mickey Jannis did a great job starting off the season. Picked up his first win right off the bat this year. Game 2: I got to have some fun with the rock and threw a solid six innings. I thought that I did pretty well for my first outing back, but I know I have plenty to work on. Game 3: Our new incoming junior Matt Reyes got the opportunity to throw the ball and show us what he had against another team. He did a good job this weekend and picked up his first Division I win. Game 4: Mike McCarthy who had to redshirt last year due to transferring from Redlands, picked up his first Division I win as well. He closed the door to the series after his solid performance.

From the other side of the ball, our team hit really this weekend. In four games, our line-up strung together a total of 60 hits this weekend scoring 42 runs. There were seven home runs hit this past weekend in our opening series. Martin Medina and JJ Henry each had two of there own. Stuart Smith, Jason Kudlock, and my roommate Ryan McIntyre also hit one of there own out of the park. Our hottest hitter of the weekend was Brandon Boren. In 20 at bats (AB) Boren had 12 hits, a quarter of them being doubles. The hitters got a lot of hard work and good swings in this series.

This coming weekend we are looking forward to seeing a couple of new teams and one team who we are looking to take revenge against. We are looking to get one back from St. Mary's on Friday. The game is at 2 P.M. here at our very own Hardt Field. The following day, February 27, we play Central Michigan at 2 P.M. as well. Sunday, we finish off the weekend with Cal, game time is also set for 2 P.M.

It was great seeing family over the weekend. I'm not going to lie, I didn't do much grocery shopping this month knowing that I was going to get some free food last weekend. I was grateful that my Mom brought up a bunch of food for me. Ever since I started college, i've appreciated free food a lot more than when I was at home. I love being on my own and being independent, but when I get the chance to be with family, I won't take it for granted. I missed both my Mom and Sister very much and was so happy to see them this past weekend. I'm glad they got to be a part of my second opening season here at CSUB.

There were many families at our games this past weekend and we appreciate everyone who came out. Hopefully this year we will see a lot more people attending our games. Seeing the stands more filled than empty is always a good feeling during games. Try and make it out this weekend if you haven't already. Come out and enjoy a hot dog with some kettle corn and a soda to wash it down. Enjoy the atmosphere of our ballpark and the entertainment we bring you. So why don't you put your feet up on a chair back this weekend and have fun watching the game we love to play. Hope to see you at the field!

Friday, February 19, 2010 GAME DAY
This is it, the moment we've all been waiting for. The second season is starting in a little more than four hours. Opening day is always one of the best feelings ever. There is nothing like having butterflies or a little nerves before a game. Every day is game day for our squad, but we are ready to play another team. We are ready to put it all on the line and show them what we got. This is supposed to be one of the better teams that the  Air force has had in a while. So we are going to come out ready and do what we do best, compete.

I'm looking forward to seeing how our first series turns out. With four games on the line, by Monday, our team can be 4-0. This would be an ideal start of the season and we look forward to playing our hearts out. Game time today is 2 P.M. and the ceremonies will be starting before then. Good luck to Mickey Jannis and his first start of the season. Hope to see you guys out there for another exciting year of Roadrunner Baseball.
 

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
3 MORE DAYS TILL OPENING DAY! Its so close and I am so excited. We've been honing our skills and getting game ready. The weather has been perfect, without a dark cloud in the sky. The days are running longer and we are able to get more work in. Friday is opening day and we are ready to see another opponent step in our house and challenge us. The first pitch of the season is scheduled for 2 P.M. on Friday, February 19. There is going to be a pretty sweet fly over so you should come check it out. I know I am excited for the season to start.

With games right around the corner, school has felt like its been dragging out. But I'm still getting all my work done and getting good test grades so I don't have to worry about them on the field. I can play worry free and have fun doing what I do. Academics is important for every student-athlete.

Have you ever once looked up the definition of a word to get a clear concept of what it means and apply it to something in your life? Well I looked up the definition of "intend" and I wanted to share with you some thoughts leading into the season. It is defined as: design or destine (someone or something) for a particular purpose or end. So when a pitcher throws with intent, his purpose is to design a quality pitch and throw it with the purpose of overcoming the hitter over and over again, for as long as possible until he can no longer deal quality pitches. Then the ball is passed off to another pitcher who is ready to clean up the act. Each pitcher has their own repertoire of pitches and uses them to the best of their ability to triumph. Sometimes its not that easy to have every pitcher throw with the same intent which makes winning a challenge. Our staff has been working on throwing every pitch with the intent to win. The intent to beat the batter and cause them to make an out. If every pitcher executes their jobs, then the chances of winning are better. There is a conditional sentence for you.

Well, I think I might get hit the sack pretty soon. In the meantime, I hope you can come out Friday and watch the team play with some serious intent. Go Runners! I'll be on the bump Saturday at 11 A.M. Hope to entertain some fans out there and show you what we got.

Saturday, February 6, 2010 2:55 P.M.
Its another gloomy, wet day out in Bakersfield. Fortunately for the team, we were able to make it to a free clinic with the Southwest Little Leaguers before the rain came in. The clinic was at Aera Park and it was great interacting and teaching these players a thing or two. Hopefully we can get more fans to come out and watch our games. We'll play our hearts out in front of any crowd and we'll have a good time doing it.

The season is right around the corner and the players are all really excited. Thirteen days from now, we'll have already finished playing two games and be in the middle our third. We're looking to start off the season strong and keep it that way. We are anxious to prove that we've become a stronger, better team. The team wants to improve their ranking and last seasons numbers. This should be another good year.

School has been going pretty well. I dropped Bio 250 and picked up weight lifting and an online course at Saddleback Community College. Online courses can be life savers. They can help you get ahead and stay ahead with credits. Some Cal States have a hard time enrolling all of the current students so online classes help in that aspect as well.

I actually found a saying that one of my peers said that I'd actually like to share. It could relate to our next few years here at Cal State Bakersfield. “History is often changed by the victors or those in power.” I would love to be in both of those positions. The victor finds ways to win ball games and those in power have the upper hand on other teams. So why not change history by having both the power and wins under our belt. Just a little quote I wanted to share.

Hopefully these next few weekends of the month are crisp and sunny. We'd love to have some good baseball weather. In the meantime, it seems that I have had a hard time writing these once a week. I will try harder to fill you in with what's going on with my life. See you at the field!

Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:37 P.M.
Tomorrow is the first day of official practice after winter break. Now our coaches can be on the field with us and help us with the practices we've been running by ourselves. It is also media day tomorrow, so we might be getting some TV time tomorrow. Hopefully practice goes well and it's another day closer until opening day arrives. I've heard from a lot of people that they are excited about the season starting and so am I. I tell people that it's going to be a better season and that we have come together better as a team. We have also experienced a year together of DI baseball and we are ready to take on our second season.

The weather has been getting a little better. Today was a beautiful sunny day at “the field.” Even though the weather hasn't been too kind to our field, we have been able to cover up the field with our new infield tarp that takes the whole team to unroll and set up. Its actually pretty fun unrolling it, flapping it, pulling it out, and sliding on it. We are supposed to be getting a little better. Hopefully by season we will be having some quality sun.

In the last couple of days, I've successfully changed my major from physical education to art. I know, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, what am I going to do with that major? But I know that being an art major is something I really would be interested in doing. I've always painted when I was growing up with my Dad and little sister. As my days have gone by, I've learned to appreciate and admire art on a more mature level. I understand the meaning behind different colors and the different shapes in art. Even in baseball there is the art of motion that goes on during every pitch, every at bat, every out that is made. But really, I've done some research in what I can do with this art major. As long as I'll be making good money I'll be happy with my career choice.

Im going to clean up the house a little bit and rest up nicely for practice tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoyed this blog. I swear I'll try to write more often. Even if they are little small entries. Night guys.

Thursday, January 21, 2010 7:37 A.M.
Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't been writing for a while. I promise I wont let that happen again. But there is a lot that has gone on this past week in Bakersfield. Sorry to the Cowboys fans for their loss against the Vikings. They still had a good season. The weather out here, has still been pretty dark, cold, and really wet. There has been a good amount of rain fall out here, not allowing our team to use our field for workouts. Luckily we've been able to use an indoor facility, located not too far away from school. It's a nice facility that we've been fortunate to use. Inside of the facility there are two hitting tunnels and a turf infield to workout on. We can get most of our normal work in, minus the fly ball work really.

Last weekend before the stormy weather came in, the pitchers were able to compete on the field against live batters during our workout. Most of the pitchers got their innings in, but by the middle of Sunday's game we had to postpone the game due to weather. It all worked out that we had to stop the game because it was picture day. Team pictures in my mind, are always pretty fun. You get to dress up in your uniform and look all good. We even got to wear our new hats in a few of the pictures. A lot of the guys try to make each other laugh, while the camera guy is shooting is camera. We sure do have a bunch of funny guys on the team. But really, anytime you take a team picture, you're making good memories. We even got to take buddy pictures as well. Me and my roommates were able to take one and we're thinking about ordering it pretty big and hanging it up on our wall. It's going to look pretty sweet.

I'm writing early this morning because the tarp to our field was finally delivered. The team was lucky enough to wake up and be at the field by 6:30 to set it all up for this stormy weather we've been having. Some of the team had to unroll and tarp the field while some were filling up sand bags. We were in and out of there, job completed and now I am here writing this moment instead of sleeping :) I have my anatomy lab at 9:30 this morning and let me tell you, trying to remember all of the different parts on your bones is pretty difficult. Its pretty interesting though and I actually like the fact that I am learning about my own body. So I'm going to keep studying hard and store as much of it as I can in my brain.

Well, I just finished eating a bowl of oatmeal and I'm going to hop in the shower and get ready for the day. To all the readers drive safely on these wet roads and I hope you guys have a terrific Thursday. I'll be writing soon. Don't worry, I wont forget.

Sunday, January 10, 2010
Good evening readers, it is Sunday, January 10th, 8:27 PM and I've decided to hop on my lappy and get to talking. Well, how about them COWBOYS! Congrats to them for finally winning a playoff game. Hopefully they keep the momentum going forward and have a good game against Favre and the Vikings on the road. GO BOYS!

Back at home I was spoiled with gorgeous weather. 74-80's, clear sunny skies, maybe a cloud or two in the sky, just beautiful. The day I drove back up for school, I opened the car door on my foggy street and just started shivering. But I've gotten used to it a little bit and adjusted my wardrobe so I can be comfy warm during the cold days here.

Im going to tell you a little bit more about myself and one other person I live with. Since I've been attending college I have picked up a case of OCD. I'm not diagnosed with it or anything, I just know that I definitely picked it up once I was out on my own. There are so many things that I need to have straightened out or I don't feel right. For instance the shoes at the entrance to my house, have to be neatly lined up and paired. Everything in the fridge needs to be sorted by what it is and any duplicates are stuck together. For example, the mustards are together, ketchup, mayo, cream cheese, drinks, meats, cheese, anything you could think of must fit into the fridge perfectly. Counters have to wiped up along with the stove and any hardtop. That's just the beginning of it too. My house needs to be clean every night before I get into bed or else I won't go to bed happy. For some reason I have became a real neat freak and I've been told that it's not a bad thing. So I'm living happy with that.

Ryan McIntyre, is my second roommate who I've mentioned previously in an entry. He is a sophomore and plays the outfield. He plays hard for every ball that is hit to him and hits the smack out of the ball with a nice southpaw swing. He is from Henderson, Nev., and went to Coronado High School. Ryan was actually the originator of the name "JayMo-ments." I told him how I was chosen to keep a diary for our team and I needed help with figuring out a clever title for it. Within 5 seconds a light bulb went off over his head and he shouted out “how about JayMo-ments?!?” and I fell in love with it. He has a unique sense of humor and makes everyone on the team laugh. Now that you know a little about both my roommates, I'm sure there will be plenty more stories throughout the year that I'll be telling you guys about.

I've had a good, productive week and weekend back in Bako. I'm hoping for another good week back in my second hometown. I have school bright and early tomorrow at 8 AM. I'm thinking about investing in a coffee maker? Good night, and in case you read this later, good morning, good afternoon, and good night! Have a good one. I'll be back soon to talk about life. Buenos Noches.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Today was the first day of classes for the Winter 2010 quarter. I'm beginning to proceed onto my major courses. I have Peak 200, Peak 290, and Bio 250. I feel like I'm going to be thinking, eating, drinking, sleeping, and studying anatomy. It will definitely be the hardest course I have taken at CSUB, while Peak 290 seems like an interesting class because it is about injury prevention. I will get the opportunity to learn how to tape up an ankle and a wrist. My third class, Peak 200, is just an intro into physical education.

I woke up pretty early this morning around 6:45 AM for an 8:00 o'clock class. Last year I was spoiled and got to sleep in till 10:55 AM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I didn't even have school. So I was blessed with extra sleep all of last quarter. Unfortunately, now I have early classes every day of the week. It was different being in the classroom environment again. The fun part is seeing which guys on the team are in the same classes as me. I was used to waking up whenever I wanted and never having to worry about books, homework, or school. Now I have to get back into the swing of things. The rest of the week should be interesting as to figuring out how I can work my non mandatory workouts around my school time.

I'll probably end up writing quite a bit. If it begins to be a little too much please let me know. I've actually been looking forward to blogging about life and what not...haha.

Monday, January 4, 2010
Hi guys! I'm sophomore Jonathan Montoya, left-handed pitcher for the baseball team here at CSUB. I've been chosen to write a diary type blog for my team throughout this upcoming season because I've been told I have a “colorful personality.” I'll just be informing you as to what goes on during my days here in Bakersfield. Anything that goes here as long as it is appropriate of course. So, I'm pretty much going to show you what is going on with baseball, school, life, and anything I feel like sharing with you guys.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself to start off this amazing diary. Im 19 years old and live in a growing city called Chino Hills. Based on June 2008 FBI statistics, Chino Hills ranks as the 13th Safest City in the United States. Sounds like a pretty safe place to live in, huh? I live with my Mom and my little sister. Sadly my Dad passed away June 2, 2009, due to a heart attack. That can be another story for another entry. You can't find too many Moms like my Mom. She's one of those one-of-a-kind mothers. She has done so much for me and is the best support system in my life. My sister just had a birthday in December and is now 15 years old. She has grown to love baseball because she has been around it all her life. She was dragged to all my games when she was young and now she can't wait for the new season to start. She's one of those cool sisters you could just tell anything and its only between the two of us. Unless we want to let my mom in on it.

I was recruited by Coach Bill Kernen at the Junior Olympics in Peoria, Arizona. He wanted me to be a starting pitcher for the team's inaugural season. Now, after our first season, 4-6 my record, I'm back in Bako ready for another fun season. I'm hoping to be an important role in this year's pitching staff.

Enough about myself now, I want to tell you about my first full day back in Bako. I'm going to tell you a little bit about one of my roommates, Eric Sanchez. Eric can play any position in the infield for us. He is being groomed to be our starting shortstop for the next couple of years. I was lucky to take him into my house that my parents bought for us and he is paying rent along with outfielder Ryan McIntyre. I was lucky enough to play with Eric in showcases prior to being a Roadrunner. He even lives 15 minutes down the freeway from my hometown in Corona. I asked Eric and Ryan to be my roommates at the end of last school year. Well, little did I know, he happens to be quite the barber/hairstylist. Last year him and I decided to open up CSUB's first Eazy Cuts. I happened to have the brilliant idea of being his appointment manager, so any of the guys who need a scissor cut, fade, trimming, or a buzz, he is the man to go to. During winter break I didn't get my haircut a single time. Now that I am finally moved back in, it was time for a snip. Now Eazy Cuts is back in business with me as its first cut of the new year. I even brought back a new pair of scissors and a clipper for him to play with. He cut me up nicely for his first appointment back in town. If you need a haircut just let me know and I'll be sure to pencil you in.

This entry seems a little lengthy, but I just wanted to tell you a little bit about myself and start it off with a little bit about my day. I'll be back writing more about how I'm treatin' my days in our good ol city of Bako.