The Fresno State baseball team won two out of three games in a weekend series against the Nevada Wolf Pack. This marks the first time this season Nevada has lost a weekend series this season.

Nevada 5, Fresno State 4

In the first game, Nevada managed to sneak by Fresno State with five runs on just three hits in the game.

Fresno State’s starting pitcher Jake Shull made his first start of the season, and had just two unearned runs and a hit going into the fifth inning with a 4-2 lead. Two hits in the fifth inning was all it took for the Wolf Pack to take a 5-2 lead in the fifth.

The ‘Dogs had a chance to get back in the game in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with Ryan Dobson, Taylor Ward, and Taylor Tempel. Then the Wolf Pack brought in lefty JoJo Romero from their bullpen, inducing a double-play and keeping their lead intact.

Fresno State relievers Anthony Arias and Garrett Mundell both combined to allow just one hit and no runs in four innings of work.

Fresno State 14, Nevada 10

Four hours and 13 minutes. That was the official time of Saturday night’s game.

In what was Fresno State’s first victory over the Wolf Pack in six outings, the two teams combined for 24 runs and 29 hits in a thriller.

The ‘Dogs fell behind 3-1 early to the Wolf Pack in the first inning before the ‘Dogs would come back with a huge second inning behind Kevin Viers’ two-run home run over the right field fence. The ‘Dogs also got contributions in the inning with singles from Dobson and Brody Russell that helped extend the lead to 6-3.

The Wolf Pack cut the lead 7-5 in the top of the fifth, but the ‘Dogs had a huge answer in the bottom of the inning. The ‘Dogs managed to load the bases twice in the inning off of walks, singles, and errors by Nevada.

After a five-run inning, the game started to get fired up when the benches cleared after a fight broke out when freshman infielder Korby Batesole slid into Nevada’s shortstop Kyle Hunt and was tagged out. Seven players and both head coaches were ejected from the game after the altercation.

Although the ‘Dogs pushed the lead to 14-5 in the seventh inning, the Wolf Pack refused to give up, scoring five runs in the eighth and loading the bases in the ninth.

Fresno State captain Garrett Mundell was brought in to pitch and he was able to secure the last two outs of the ninth, giving Fresno State the win 14-10.

Fresno State 3, Nevada 1

In the last game, the ‘Dogs managed to pull out a 3-1 win over the conference rival.

Sophomore Jimmy Lambert took the mound for the ‘Dogs on Sunday and lasted a career-high eight innings, giving up four hits and one earned run in the game.

Lambert loaded the bases in the top of the eigth with two outs but managed to pull through and record a ground-out to end the inning.

Joe Prior accounted for all three runs in the game for the ‘Dogs with three RBIs off a home run in the fourth inning and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

“He’s staying in there and he’s hitting against right-handers for the first time in about two or three weeks,” said Fresno State head coach Mike Batesole. “If we can get him turned, it’s almost like getting a good player off the DL. It changes the lineup and it lets us get one hitter deeper. Mark your numbers where they are now and again at the end of the season. He might become our best hitter.”
When asked what it was like to see Prior hit that home-run, Batesole simply said, “beautiful.”

The ‘Dogs next game will be on the road Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they will be taking on Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.