Matt Weir/The Collegian
Opening weekend provided a quick spark for Fresno State baseball en route to a 3-0 record against Pacific Northwest foes Gonzaga and Oregon State.
After Friday’s opening night was cancelled due to inclement weather, the ‘Dogs picked up their first win of the young season in a 10-4 rout of Gonzaga behind the strong pitching of junior Derek Benny on Saturday. J.D. Salles picked up the save, pitching four innings.
The ‘Dogs got the ball rolling again a day later in a 2-1 grind-it-out victory over Oregon State.
Senior Greg Gonzalez turned in Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors in the win over the Beavers, sitting down eight batters in seven innings of work.
But late-game heroics capped off another successful opening weekend when sophomore Austin Wynns provided the latest heroics for the ‘Dogs during Monday’s showdown with Oregon State. With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Wynns hit a walk-off single bringing in outfielder Brennan Gowens to win the game, 5-4.
“I was pretty much thinking put the ball in play and hit a line drive somewhere,” Wynns said
Monday’s game was far from flawless, however. The Bulldogs committed five errors, all leading Oregon State’s unearned runs.
Oregon State jumped to an early lead when catcher Andrew Susac hit a sacrifice fly off starting pitcher Tom Harlan, bringing in Luke Acosta who had a singled but made it all the way to third on one of the Bulldogs’ errors. Harlan would finish the game pitching 5.2 innings, striking out four and allowing only one unearned run.
The Bulldogs answered back in the second, bringing in three runs, once when Andy Qualls scored when the Beavers’ Jordan Poyer misplayed a would-be single hit by freshman Aaron Judge. After a walk by Pat Hutcheson, pre-season All-WAC third baseman Danny Muno hit a two-run double. Judge also added a RBI single in the sixth inning.
In the seventh inning, with the bases loaded and one out, relief pitcher Cody Kendall almost got out of a jam when he struck out the Beavers’ Susac for the second out of the inning. Kendall then allowed Parker Berberet to hit a two-run single, inching closer to the ‘Dogs at 4-3.
In the ninth the Beavers’ quickly knotted things up at 4-4 when Wynns overthrew Muno at third base.
In the ninth inning Wynns, who has taken over the starting job at catcher due to Trent Garrison’s knee injury, redeemed himself with a walk-off single. Junior Brennan Gowens provided the winning run.
“He was great with the exception of one play, but he answered back right away in the bottom of the ninth to get the game winner,” head coach Mike Batesole said of Wynns.
“He did some major stepping up, Trent [Garrison] got hurt,” Kendall said. “He’s stepping into a big role. He did great.”
The Bulldogs enjoyed an efficient pitching staff on opening weekend, as oppose to last year. In the Bulldogs’ three season-opening wins in 2010 over Nebraska, Batesole was forced to rotate in 15 pitchers. The wins over Gonzaga and Oregon State, however, saw just two pitchers featured in each win.
“Three games, we brought in three guys out of the pen and that’s why we called them finishers,” Batesole said.