Joseph Edgecomb / The Collegian
After a disappointing 1-3 showing in last weekend̢۪s San Diego Tournament, the Fresno State baseball team rebounded nicely to beat the Indiana Hoosiers Saturday and Sunday.
The Bulldogs beat the Hoosiers 6-2 on Saturday afternoon and completed the sweep yesterday with a 9-4 victory. Fresno State matched a season-high 17 hits against the Hoosiers Sunday.
Coach Mike Batesole was glad to finally see some good situational hitting from his ballclub.
“Our starting pitching has been good, our defense has been outstanding, but we haven’t done anything at the plate with two strikes this year,â€Â Batesole said. “It was good to see us crack through that a little bit.â€Â
One of those two-strike hits came from freshman right-fielder Danny Muno. He smacked a double into the right-center field gap during the fourth inning of Sunday̢۪s game that knocked in two runs and ignited the Bulldogs̢۪ offense.
He wound up going 4 for 5 at the plate, with three runs scored and four RBI.
“I don’t try and do too much, I just try and do the small things,â€Â Muno said. “[The ball] looked like a grapefruit out there.â€Â
Equally impressive was the performance of sophomore Tom Mendonca on Saturday.
Mendonca belted a couple of home runs to supply all of the offense the Bulldogs would need in their 6-2 victory. He went 2 for 4 and knocked in five of the Bulldogs̢۪ six runs.
Mendonca and the Bulldogs came into Saturday̢۪s game in a bit of a slump, but he felt that the team̢۪s performance this weekend may have snapped them out of it.
“It was a little bit of a relief,â€Â Mendonca said. “We’ve been trying to do too much at the plate lately. We just took a step back, talked about it and we’ve been hitting ever since.â€Â
The Bulldogs didn̢۪t need much offense though, as junior Tanner Scheppers continued his dominance on the mound for the Bulldogs.
He threw 110 pitches in six innings. Scheppers (2-1) struck out 10 batters and gave up only one earned run.
He has 29 strikeouts in 19 innings of work this season.
“He struggled finding his breaking ball early,â€Â Batesole said. “But the good lord blessed him with a fastball that can get him through it. Once he found his breaking ball then he was really good.â€Â
Fresno State will now look to this week̢۪s Pepsi-Johnny Quik Tournament at Pete Beiden Field.
The Bulldogs will play six games in six days, starting off with conference foe New Mexico State tonight at 6:05.
Batesole said that the San Diego Tournament was a good learning experience and that his team should be ready for the six-game stretch.
“I think the key is that we continue to play good defense,â€Â Batesole said. “When you hit long stretches like this you don’t want to give any games away.â€Â
Fresno State improved its record from 3-6 to 5-6 this weekend and could be headed into one of the most important stretches of games in the season.
“It’s really important because of the start we got off to,â€Â Batesole said. “We got to get that turned around before next Thursday, but I liked what we did the last two days.â€Â
Muno believes that a winning streak in this week̢۪s tournament could be a great stepping-stone into conference play.
“We could get on a big roll and take that into conference,â€Â Muno said. “These were huge wins.â€Â