TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Bill Kernen isn't willing to accept a suggestion that a dropoff in CSU Bakersfield's baseball fortunes is likely after the loss of key personnel from last season.

Among the losses are the top three starting pitchers, the team's closer and the team's top run producers, plus a catcher who caught nearly every inning throughout the first three seasons of the program.

"Absolutely not," Kernen said. "This isn't like professional sports where you have a guy for his whole professional career. If college you have them for four years at the most and a lot at three, which we just saw.

"Every single year, if you're going to wait and reload and rebuild, then you'll have a good year every three or four years.

"That's not how you become an elite program. You've got to be legitimate every year."

The Roadrunners open their season Saturday with the opener of a three-game home series vs. Kansas State, an NCAA Tournament team from last season. All of those games begin at 2 p.m.

After an off-day Tuesday, CSUB will host Fresno State on Wednesday at 6 p.m., then have a three-game home series next weekend against UC Davis.

Kernen acknowledged the first two years of the program was about development. But last season, when the Roadrunners went 33-22, barely missed out on an NCAA Tournament berth and posted wins over several top-level teams, changed everything.

"We're in the result world now," he said. "Once you're in that part of the game, it is what matters. ... We're being measured by our success on the field. That's what we care about."

Kernen said he knows his team faces challenges to reach last season's success.

"We have a talented enough group of guys to get it done," he said. "We just have to see how fast we grow up and how fast we get it together as a team.

"The toughest thing for us as coaches in the fall and then now is to bring them together as a team instead of being a bunch of individuals."

One of the biggest changes this season is 29 active players on CSUB's roster after only 21 last season.

Kernen said he and his coaching staff will be looking at everyone in game situations.

The starting pitchers are new. He said four are needed during the early portion of the schedule when as many as seven games are set for a nine-day period.

Competing for the top three spots are right-hander Scott Brattvet, a junior transfer from Santa Ana College; left-handers Taylor Aikenhead, a sophomore transfer from Bakersfield College and Jeff McKenzie, a junior transfer from San Joaquin Delta; and right-handed senior Spenser Messmore, a senior who has been at CSUB since the program's inception.

"I'd rather have Messmore out of the bullpen. I'd rather not start him. But I may have to," Kernen said.

Sophomore Cael Brockmeyer will start the season as the No. 1 catcher, with JC transfer Frank Martinez from East L.A. College also expected to see extensive action at catcher. Martinez is fully recovered from a broken hand suffered during fall practice.

Returning starters are senior center fielder Andrew Letourneau, a former Liberty High and BC player; left fielder Kevin Younger, a junior from Liberty High; senior D.C. Legg at third base; and sophomores Oscar Sanay at second base and Tyler Shryock at shortstop.

Senior Seth Smith are junior JC transfer Dylan Christensen from Saddleback College are the first basemen, although Legg and Brockmeyer also figure to see time there.

Some of the freshmen to watch are right fielder and leadoff batter Jordie Hein from Scottsdale, Ariz.; outfielder Garrett Pierce from Centennial High, who is being converted to third base; and pitchers Austin Davis from Scottsdale; James Barragan from Stockdale High; and Hayden Carter from San Diego.

Another local freshman, Garces High graduate Grant Campbell, has huge power potential, Kernen said.

"He's going to be a strong kid," Kernen said. "He'll hit some home runs and he can run pretty good for a guy his size (6-foot-2, 220 pounds). In the outfield he's a little raw, but he has a future here, for sure."

Another notable freshman is Walter Wells, a walk-on from San Diego who has been one of the team's biggest surprises and has played himself away from a potential redshirt season.

"We had talks about doing that, but then we said, 'Wait a minute. He's our second-best infielder,'" Kernen said. "I don't think we can do that."

CSUB is starting its final year as a Division I independent. It will join the Western Athletic Conference for baseball in 2013.

"We need to be ready for that," he said. "That means facilities, fan support, recruiting, everything. ... It's good to be in a conference for a championship to play for and a league tournament to play for."

Kernen said this year's strength of schedule is about the same as last season, when the Roadrunners had seven wins over teams ranked in the top-20 at the time CSUB beat them.

"Someone had a strength-of-schedule ranking on us at it was 51," he said. "We ended up last year at 55 and at the start (of the season) we were in the 40s."