For a moment so brief it could scarcely be noticed, Liberty and Stockdale were tied one more time.

Then a shot from Stockdale's No. 1 doubles team sailed out of bounds, ending that match seconds after the No. 2 doubles match and giving Liberty a 5-4 home victory Thursday in the Central Section Division I boys tennis quarterfinals.

HUMBLE, Texas -- Cal State Bakersfield junior Thomas Judge, a Garces High School graduate, won the men's hammer throw Thursday to highlight Cal State Bakersfield's first-ever appearance in the Great West Conference Track and Field Championships.

CSUB joined the GWC in track as an affiliate member prior to the start of this season.

Baseball

Stockdale 15, Independence 2

SAN BERNARDINO -- Chad Rogers threw eight scoreless innings and shortstop Billy Hamilton stole his 33rd base as the Bakersfield Blaze beat the Inland Emire 66ers 4-0 at San Manuel Stadium.

The Blaze scored all its runs in the sixth inning, when Hamilton led off with his fifth triple of the season and scored on Devin Lohman's double. Donald Lutz had an RBI double and David Vidal a two-run single in the inning.

Gary Dutton will be trying to make it two in a row as the IMCA Modified drivers return to Bakersfield Speedway on Saturday night for a second straight week of action.

Dutton raced to a Hobby Stock victory last Saturday night before jumping into an IMCA Modified and driving to victory in that division as well.

New Fresno State football coach Tim DeRuyter knew what Bakersfield has to offer long before he made his first public appearance here Wednesday.

After all, DeRuyter's quarterback, Derek Carr, and half a dozen other Bulldogs hail from Bakersfield, and he plans on keeping that pipeline flowing freely in the future.

Bakersfield College freshman pitcher-designated hitter Tyler Painton has made a verbal commitment to accept a baseball scholarship to Oregon State.

His father, BC coach Tim Painton, said he preferred not to comment until the official letter of intent has been signed.

Baseball

Ridgeview 11, Mira Monte 10

The battle for South Yosemite League baseball supremacy isn't over yet. And oh, what a battle it has been so far.

Ridgeview prolonged the final outcome of the SYL title race with a dramatic 11-10 victory over visiting Mira Monte on Wednesday.

The second annual Amgen Tour of California Women's Time Trial Race, is set to take place in Bakersfield during Stage 5 of the 2012 Amgen Tour of California on May 17.

The Amgen Tour of California Women's Time Trial Race will use the same course as Stage 5 of the men's individual time trial in Bakersfield. The women's event will be an invitation-only competition featuring the leading female athletes in the world of cycling, all vying for a piece of the $10,000 prize pool.

The boys tennis teams at Liberty and Stockdale will finally get a chance to break their tie, and this one will have everything on the line.

The Patriots and Mustangs tied three times during the regular season -- 6-6 in both league meetings and 3-3 in a Lynch Cup match (won by Liberty on the third tiebreaker). Monday, the Central Section announced they'll play once more as the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds paired against each other in the Division I quarterfinals Thursday.

IRVING, Texas -- Tyrone Crawford can't overstate the impact his two seasons at Bakersfield College had on his football career.

So, when the 22-year-old defensive end who was a third-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in April's 2012 NFL Draft was asked about his time in Bakersfield during his first day of practice recently at the Cowboys' rookie minicamp, he got a bit nostalgic.

Three Taft College baseball players earned all-Central Valley Conference recognition this season.

Catcher Pierce Belaustegui, who hit .317 with three home runs and 24 RBIs, was the lone Cougar to make the first team.

Baseball

Shafter 6, Wasco 1

Donald Lutz hit his California League-leading 10th home run of the season in the 9th inning Tuesday to lead the Bakersfield Blaze to a 3-2 victory over the Lancaster JetHawks at Clear Channel Stadium.

Three Blaze pitchers, led by starter Justice French, held Lancaster to four hits. French worked six scoreless innings, struck out four and walked two.

BALTIMORE -- Josh Hamilton became the 16th player to hit four home runs in a game, launching a quartet of two-run drives against three different pitchers in a history-making performance that carried the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday

Hamilton homered off Jake Arrieta in the first and third innings, added another off Zach Phillips in the seventh and topped it off with a one-for-the-books shot against Darren O'Day in the eighth. During the last at-bat, Hamilton took a mighty hack and missed, lined a foul into right-field seats and then sent an 0-2 pitch over the center-field wall.

Manav Shah and Bhavik Patel are moving on in qualifying for the 112th U.S. Open.

Shah was co-medalist in local qualifying at Fort Washington Golf Course in Fresno on Monday with a 4-under-par 67, tying Fresno's Ryan Nelson.

2012 Kern County Track & Field Championships

Liberty High School

The excitement started to brew back in mid-March when Bakersfield bowler Joe Smith won the District Finals at AMF Riverside Lanes in Riverside. It was the same weekend as our Mixed City Tournament and the news spread quickly at AMF Southwest Lanes that Smith would be going on to Vegas to bowl in the record-breaking $700,000 AMF National In-League Tournament.

Smith, 26, was among 108 finalists to compete the weekend of April 27-28, at The Orleans in Las Vegas. Finalists were competing in four divisions: Open, Division A, Division B and Division C. Smith was competing in the Open division. This year more than 25,000 AMF league bowlers entered this tournament.