Bulldogs outslug Hawaii to take weekend series

Staff Reports

Fresno State’s baseball team came back from a Friday loss to Hawaii to win two of three games in the series.

The Bulldogs (19-25, 7-8 Western Athletic Conference) held off Hawaii in a 13-8 win on Sunday at Beiden Field to move into a third-place tie in the WAC with Nevada.

Fresno State is still one game behind Hawaii (24-15, 8-7) in the standings.

Relief pitcher Gil Infante tossed three and two-thirds scoreless innings to end the game. Infante (1-0) struck out the first 10 batters he faced before a ninth-inning single by Hawaii’s Rocky Russo with two outs.

Fresno State grabbed the lead early, scoring six runs in the first two innings to take a 6-1 lead.

But Hawaii came back to take an 8-6 lead in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Bulldogs erupted for five runs behind back-to-back home runs.

The first was a three-run home run from catcher Brandon Marcelli. That shot was followed by a David Gomez home run over the right-field fence.

Marcelli was 2 for 3 at the plate with five RBIs. He’s batting .331 on the season.

Sophomore center fielder Richie Robnett’s first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 18 games. He added another hit with a home run to lead off the eighth inning.

Robnett leads the Bulldogs with eight home runs this season. He went 3 for 3 on the day with two RBIs to increase his team-leading batting average to .353.

Hawaii pitcher Guy McDowell got the loss, giving up five runs and five hits in four and one-third innings.

The Bulldogs lost Friday’s game 4-2 before coming back with a 2-0 shutout on Saturday. The shutout featured a four-hit complete-game effort by Matt Garza (3-2). It was the second shutout of the season by the Bulldogs.

Starting pitcher Brandon Miller gave up four runs (one earned) in three innings for the no-decision.

Fresno State visits Louisiana Tech for a three-game series Friday-Sunday.