It was a cold night at Bob Bennett Stadium, but the Fresno State baseball team was on fire before taking an 8-5 win over Saint Mary’s College of California on Tuesday.
The ‘Dogs took an early lead in the second inning and kept it for the remainder of the game.
With a double down right-field line, freshman Zach Presno was in scoring position. All it took was a single up center by redshirt senior Nick Warren to give Presno the go-ahead run.
The ‘Dogs were still not done. With runners on second and third, junior Zach Ashford singled to left field, knocking in Warren to give the ‘Dogs a 2-0 lead to end the inning.
Senior Korby Batesole collected an RBI in the third to extend the ‘Dogs lead to three in the third.
Soon after, Saint Mary’s started to gain momentum after a solo home run by sophomore Kevin Milam.
Redshirt sophomore Matt Green doubled down the right field line to set himself up to score off of Haus’ single. That cut the the ‘Dogs lead to one by the fourth.
The Gaels’ tied the game in their next at-bat when senior Joey Fiske hit a one-out sac-fly to move Thane from third to home.
The ‘Dogs got out of the inning a batter later with a fly out to junior Nolan Dempsey.
In the fifth, Fresno State took control of the game once again with only two hits, but four runs to give them the lead again, 7-3.
It all started when sophomore Carter Bins was hit by a pitch and ended with bases loaded and a grand slam by Warren.
“It was an outside pitch that he got around on it and got it right in the middle of the barrel. He is a big, strong guy now that he is a fifth-year senior and he goes out in batting practice and displays that so it great to see it in a game,” head coach Mike Batesole said.
The lead proved too big for Saint Mary’s after the Gaels collected their last two runs in the sixth and seventh. The ‘Dogs finished with another run in the eighth before securing the win.
“[We’re] feeling good and moving forward and that performance is exactly what we needed,” Batesole said.
The ‘Dogs will now head to San Diego State for a three game series starting Friday.