Despite spartan, bare-bone facilities, CSUB baseball team soldiers on — but for how long?

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Another season is almost in the books for the Cal State Bakersfield baseball team — another season of close calls and grossly inadequate facilities.

As the Roadrunners head into their final home series of the 2024 season against first-place UC Santa Barbara, they stand at 13 wins, 33 losses, including 7-17 — good for ninth place — in the tough Big West Conference.

But they’re in the basement in another key area: stadium and clubhouse facilities.

The clubhouse at Harte Field, on the south side of the campus, is a nondescript portable building with hand-me-down lockers and no showers — in fact, no running water. Not only is that an inconvenience, it’s a liability when it comes to recruiting future players to join the Roadrunners.

Former CSUB pitcher Davonte Butler, now a high school junior varsity coach, says the baseball facilities at his Northern California high school were better than CSUB’s.

The title a Bakersfield woman prayed for: ‘Mom’

“We’re in the Big West, a power division,” he said. “You’re going against Long Beach, Cal Poly, Fullerton … multimillion dollar facilities. And then you come here. It’s almost like — well it’s a baseball field. It’s not really a stadium.”

Then you come to Harte Field. No concession stand, no fan parking within a quarter-mile, and perhaps harshest of all, no plumbed restrooms. Players, coaches, umpires, groundskeepers, fans — they all share a cluster of port-a-potties.

Jeremy Beard, about to wrap up his eighth year as head coach, has had nine players drafted by Major League baseball, and one of them, Darius Vines, is in the big leagues. He says the Roadrunners ballfield was originally going to be just the team’s practice field.

“It’s a nice practice field,” he said, “and we work really hard at what we do out here. But it’s a far cry (from the norm) and the difference between our ability to recruit players to campus (and losing them to another school). And we’re well aware of that.”

Las Vegas native Kyle Conder, CSUB’s athletic director for the past year and a half, is well-aware of it too.

“We still have some ground to make up as far as facilities, resources, and those things are concerned,” he said. “I think what’s encouraging is this is undoubtedly a baseball community. There are people here that care a lot about it and there’s some real pillars in our community. One of the names that comes to mind for me is George Culver.”

And Culver, a retired major league pitcher, has plenty to say about the situation.

“They put almost nothing into the facilities,” Culver said. “You got a poor locker room, nothing for a restroom other than an outhouse. A lot of women won’t go to the games cause they don’t have a restroom. And there’s no concession stand. And it’s sad because that could be such a great program.”

ROBERT PRICE: World War II veteran Floyd Jackson celebrates 100th birthday

“The facilities aren’t as up to par as you would like,” Culver said. “But that also makes you a better man out of it. Sometimes you have to pick up the rake and go to work yourself.”

Compare and contrast with the baseball complex as Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — right on the heels of first place Santa Barbara in the Big West.

Larry Lee, the head baseball coach, says a comfortable team clubhouse promotes unity.

“It keeps your players in one spot,” he said. “They go to class, they lift weights, they come back here and they study, they eat, they get their extra work in. So they’re around each other more than normal. The clubhouse really adds to that.”

Upmarket brings vibrancy to old Haberfelde building in downtown Bakersfield

It helps to have big money donors like Dignity Health, of course. CSUB is grateful for its donors as well. It just needs a few more.

Maybe one day Coach Jeremy Beard won’t have to endure conversations with visiting recruits like this one.

“‘I got one more (recruiting) stop and (then) I’ll give you a call,’” the recruit tells the coach, according to Culver. “They ain’t coming back. They’re not coming back. I mean, it’s ridiculous.”

With the close of the baseball season begins the start of the recruiting season. How will Cal State Bakersfield fare in that department? Stay tuned.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.