Shaun Ho / The Collegian

Whether you̢۪re a good news first person, or a bad news first person, the Fresno State baseball team was able to deliver on both over the weekend.

First comes the good news. Too many times this season, the Bulldogs̢۪ bats had been silenced by opposing pitchers, but as the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic began, so to did the Fresno State offense.

In four games in the PJQC, the Bulldogs combined to score 31 runs, going 2-2 in the four games in that span. When you add in the two nonconference games against Iowa on Monday and Tuesday, the run total for the week adds up to 58 runs.

“I think offensively, we took a step in the right direction,” Fresno State outfielder Steve Susdorf said. “We’re swinging at better pitches and as you could see we were scoring more runs.”

But as the Fresno State offense progressed, the pitching staff seemed to regress, surrendering 43 runs of their own during the same time frame. Most of those runs have been self-inflicted and largely due to a significant amount of walks to opposing batters and not-so error-free defense.

“What I’m most concerned about is guys coming out of the men and continually walking guys,” Batesole said. “That’s absolutely killing us. There’s not too many guys that this team walks that don’t touch home plate.

“You’re talking about everybody’s getting chances, they’re all getting appearances, they’re all getting the ball, and nobody’s taking control and saying ‘this is my job.’”

In Saturday̢۪s loss to Dallas Baptist, Fresno State committed five errors, which allowed the Patriots to capitalize on four unearned runs.

“I think what we’ve prided ourselves on since I’ve been here is outstanding infield defense and when that doesn’t happen on a night like tonight, that hurts extra as a team,” Batesole said.

“At this point, with this group, that’s more of an excuse than a reason. I’ve seen them do it and I know they can do it. They’re not a bunch of young guys who are growing and this isn’t some kind of year where we’re trying to get ready for next year and play a bunch of young guys. We’re playing them because they’re the best players.”

Those four unearned runs proved to be the difference in the Bulldogs̢۪ 12-10 loss to the Patriots, but via tiebreaker rules, Fresno State still won the PJQC.

“Our focus in practice is always on defense and the majority of practice is spent on bunt plays and PFPs and ground balls and stuff like that,” Susdorf said.

Still, even though the Bulldogs have yet to iron out all of their inconsistencies, the big picture shows that perhaps the team is starting to turn the corner. The biggest evidence of this comes from the way the Bulldogs battled back in games to have a chance to win in the end.

“I like the way we came from behind, shoot, at least five of the six games,” Batesole said. We may look back at some point and say ‘hey 4-2, wasn’t such a bad week,’ but right now when you drop the last two and the way that we dropped this one it doesn’t feel so good.”