Bakersfield College Baseball (27-10) beat Long Beach City College (24-13) 5-2 on the road Friday afternoon to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series to open round one of the SoCal Regional Tournament. 

Hudson Hartley picked up the complete game win, giving up just two runs (one earned) and four hits over nine innings, while striking out five. 

"We had a game plan going in, and he executed it about as good as one possibly could. He was outstanding today in giving us a 103-pitch, nine inning victory," Head Coach Tim Painton said.  

BC got to Long Beach City College starter Daniel Rocha early, scoring three first-inning runs on four hits. 

Brooks Douglass drew a leadoff walk, and moved to second on a Kyle James single. James and Douglass each advanced a base on #3 hitter Hanz Harker's sac bunt, and then scored on a Luis Martinez single to centerfield. Martinez advanced to second on the unsuccessful throw home.  

Harrison Smith then picked up a bunt single, moving Martinez to third, and Jacob Herrera then drove him home with a single to the right side. 

"Rocha's been very good for them all season. He doesn't give up a lot of hits or runs, and going in, we thought we could use some offensive skills early in the game to get to them. Luis Martinez had a key hit in the first inning, and Jacob Herrera had a hit-and-run single in the second that was obviously very valuable," Painton said. 

Bakersfield scored two more runs in "small ball" fashion in the second, and then left the rest up to their gloves and Hartley. 

"He got better as the game went on, though. But we were able to push his pitch count fairly high in the first three innings, so he was out of the game after the seventh. He threw for strikes, his changeup was very good, but we did some excellent things offensively early in the game and Hartley did an excellent job on the mound to keep things under control," Painton said. 

Kyle James and Jassen Oliver each picked up two hits in four at-bats, and James scored a pair of runs while Oliver scored one. 

Rocha was credited with the loss, giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walkss in seven innings. He also struck out seven. 

Painton said he's still mulling the game two starter, but he's got great options in Monty Stevens (8-0, 1st Team All-Conference) and Austin Toerner (6-1, 2nd Team All-Conference). 

Game two of the series will begin Saturday at 11am at Joe Hicks Memorial Field on the Long Beach City College Campus, with game three following the same day if necessary.