On a sunny, but chilly, Saturday afternoon, Beiden Field hosted a baseball game where the lineup was merely a suggestion; no matter how much a player “argued” with an umpire, he would not be thrown out — and every player on the field was a Bulldog.
It was the annual Fresno State baseball Alumni game. The current Bulldogs walked away with the victory in a 7-4 win over the alumni.
Players like former major league knuckleballer Dennis Springer, ‘Wonderdogs’ Tommy Mendonca and Steve Detweiler and World Series participant and Detroit Tiger Doug Fister came out to help the baseball program usher in the 2013 season.
The alumni made it nearly impossible to keep score of the game on Saturday — and seemed to be having a good time. The wackiness started at the top of the fourth inning, when Steve Susdorf was at bat for the alumni. He hit a single off of current Bulldog pitcher William Munro that tied the game up at two apiece. The alumni were so thrilled by this that they had former Oakland A Terance Frazier pinch run and let Susdorf hit again. He subsequently flew out to centerfield.
Alumni Christian Vetters was happy to be back in his first alumni game since 2007.
“It was just fun to be out here and see all the old guys again,” Vetters said. “It’s just good to see everybody I played with. We all went through the trenches together. We’re all brothers, but it’s hard to keep in contact with everybody, so it was good to see everybody. I had a good time.”
In the bottom of the seventh, with the alumni behind, they sent out a no-doubles defense of four outfielders. When outfielder Jordan Luplow got on base, they decided to pull out all the stops. The alumni sent their whole roster out on to the field, leading to over 20 defenders spread across the diamond. This was no concern for shortstop Chris Mariscal, who managed to find an opening and get a single.
After a quick 12-player mound meeting, alumni Nick Moresi, feeling perhaps the home plate umpire was the reason the alumni were behind, stepped in and proceeded to call every pitch a strike. On strike three, he rang up the pitch by moonwalking toward the Bulldog dugout.
With all the alumni’s shenanigans, the current players had a good time on their way to victory.
“It’s good to have the older guys back here again, having some fun and getting some laughter in the game,” centerfielder Aaron Judge said.
The alumni were happy to come back to the field they once called home and felt that the current Bulldogs look like they will be able to live up to the Fresno State legacy. Alumni Justin Haley played in his first alumni game.
“They looked good,” Haley said. “They looked solid, a lot of good field work, a lot of quick bats. I’m excited to see this season. I’m definitely going to follow the boys and see how they do this season. I think they’re going to do real well. I project them to do real well in the Mountain West their first season.”
Vetters said the Bulldogs show some real promise.
“They’ve got some things to work out, but they’re a talented team,” he said. “They got good guys. They got some stars in there and some good background players.”
Fresno State will open its regular season on Friday against UC Santa Barbara. The game starts at 6:35 p.m. at Beiden Field.