In the bottom of the sixth inning, Fresno State’s right fielder Nate Thimjon stepped to the plate. 

The Bulldogs were in the middle of a scoring drought, and they had runners on first and third base ”” Blake Wink and Ryan Higgins. 

The ‘Dogs had one out, and Higgins had just walked to first. Thimjon then set up and hit a three-run home run to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.

The Fresno State Bulldogs went on to beat the Cal Poly Mustangs 13-0 at the Pete Beiden Field on Tuesday night. 

The ‘Dogs got on the board early in the second as second baseman Andrew Kachel hit a two-run home run to left field, scoring third baseman Zach Morgan. 

To end the second, Bulldogs’ catcher Zach Presno hit a single to left field, and Cal Poly’s shortstop Blake Wink was unable to catch it. As the ball flew behind him, Wink was able to run home, giving the ‘Dogs a 4-0 lead.

As the Mustangs tried to answer back, the Bulldogs held them to one hit, ending their half-inning short with a double play and a catch in the outfield from Thimjon. Higgins continued the momentum, hitting a single in the gap to left field and scoring left fielder Dylan Johnson.

Fresno State used seven pitchers to shut down Cal Poly’s offense, holding them to five hits. The starting pitcher for the ‘Dogs was Alex Kendrick who pitched for 3.1 innings, had one strikeout and gave up three hits. 

Bulldogs head coach Mike Batesole said that Kendrick is continuing to get better.

“You could just feel him getting better. You could feel it every time he takes the ball, his chest gets a little bit further out,” Batesole said. “That’s a kid with outstanding Friday night stuff. When he’s a junior he’s going to be something to deal with. Right now he has some growing pains to go through. His stuff is so good he gets away with not having to deal with a lot of that to this point. There will be a few coming, but I love what he’s doing. I love the way he’s charging it up there and his stuff is electric.”

After being scoreless for the next three innings, the Bulldogs scored three runs in the final three frames. The Bulldogs had two three-run home runs in the sixth and the eighth, respectively. 

Other than Thimjon, Kachel hit another home run in the bottom of the eight, giving the ‘Dogs a 13-0 lead. Kachel led the way for the ‘Dogs with two home runs and five RBIs.

Fresno State finished the night with three home runs, five doubles and 16 hits.