Freshman Chris Mariscal steps up to the plate in the fifth inning
as rain and hail begins to fall. Mother Nature didn’t prevent
Sunday’s game but postponed Saturday’s game to April 21.
Esteban Cortez / The Collegian
Rain was the only thing that stopped the Bulldog pitching staff, as it allowed one run in two games to win the weekend series against Cal State Bakersfield. Fresno State climbed back climbed back to one game above .500 with the wins.
The ‘Dogs evened their record to 9-9 with a 2-1 victory on Friday evening. They remain a perfect 4-0 on Friday night games this season. Sophomore Tyler Linehan is responsible for two wins and a no decision versus Stanford during that span.
Linehan pitched another gem, going seven innings and allowing only a single run, lowering his ERA to 1.51. He also collected 11 strikeouts to boost his season total to 44.
“[Pitching] has been carrying us right now,” outfielder Kenny Wise said. “They are definitely our strength. Once our bats start waking up we will be a dangerous team.”
The ‘Dogs had their hands full with the Roadrunners’ pitching staff all game. Starting pitcher Jeff McKenzie held the Bulldogs scoreless until the fifth inning when Pat Hutcheson hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Jordan Brink. Later in the inning, Chris Mariscal would send in another run thanks in part to an error by center fielder Andrew Letourneau.
Cal State Bakersfield would score its only run of game in the sixth when DC Legg doubled to left to score Cael Brockmeyer.
Bulldog closer Taylor Garrison pitched the last two innings of the game, not allowing a hit for his fourth save of the year.
“Defense has been a main focus during practice. We’ve been trying to be perfect and it’s been working out for us,” Wise said.
Mother Nature would interfere with Saturday’s game as rains prevented the contest to go on as scheduled. The game will be made up on April 21.
Sunday’s 5-0 shutout gave Fresno State its first series win since the season’s opening weekend series against Butler. The shutout was the Bulldogs’ third of the year and also gave them a winning record at 10-9.
“We played great defense again. We didn’t walk anybody in nine innings and we got some timely hits,” coach Mike Batesole said.
The ‘Dogs scored an early run in the second inning when Austin Wynns hit a would-be sacrifice fly to center Garrett Pierce, who caused an error allowing Wise to score from third after his first triple of the season.
The fourth brought better fortune when Aaron Judge tacked on an RBI double to bring home Jordan Luplow who singled to lead off the inning. Luplow advanced to third on a grounder by Wise before scoring on a Wynns’ double.
With the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, and Justin Haley pitched out of a jam forcing the Roadrunners’ Kevin Younger to line out and Oscar Sanay to fly out to right to escape the inning. It would be the last time that the Roadrunners would threaten as Haley went on to win his second game of the season. Haley finished after throwing six innings and recorded six strikeouts.
The ‘Dogs would add their last two runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Wise and an RBI ground out by Taylor Tempel.
The Dogs home stand continues with a two-game series with Kent State on Tuesday and Wednesday.