Bulldogs Sak' it to Alumni
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
Consistent pitching, especially from young pitchers such as Justin Wilson (above), will be imperative to obtaining success for the Bulldog baseball team. Wilson earned the victoy in Saturday's game against Fresno State alumni. |
By Darrell Copeland
The Collegian
The hit that set the tone for the day still hasn’t landed.
Fresno State’s Kent Sakamoto, batting third in Saturday’s alumni game lineup, slammed a mid-80’s fastball for a two-run homerun over the newly retired numbers of three former Bulldogs.
Former Fresno State All-American Jeff Weaver threw the pitch to Sakamoto, although nowhere near the kind he throws to big leaguers on a twice-a-week basis.
“He was just out there throwing like 80 to 85 [miles per hour],” Sakamoto said.
Fortunately for the Bulldogs, most all of the alumni was in that batting practice-like range, helping the Bulldogs to collect 14 hits on their way to a 15 -5 victory over the alumni.
But hitting is not even close to being the main focus of this year’s baseball team. In Fresno State coach Mike Batesole’s first three years, pitching and defense have been the handcuffs for talented offensive teams.
In Batesole’s three years as coach, the Bulldogs have compiled an 89-87 record, much lower then what expectations are for a proud Fresno State baseball tradition.
If Sunday is to be any predictable measuring stick for the future, than that tradition could very well be restored by the end of the 2006 college baseball season.
“All of the pitchers did a good job attacking the mitt today,” Batesole said.
It would be safe to say that freshman Justin Wilson attacked the mitt in his two innings of work, as the Buchanan High School graduate pitched two hitless innings with one walk and three strikeouts while picking up the win.
“That was actually the highlight for me,” Sakamoto said. “To see the freshmen like Wilson go out there and throw strikes.”
Former Bulldog Randy Goodrich picked up the loss for the alumni as he allowed three runs in only one inning of work, two of which were earned.
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
Above: Fresno State alums Augie Garrido, Mark Gardner, and Bobby Jones all had their jerseys retired prior to Saturday's alumni game. All three are represented on the left field wall inside of Pete Beiden Field. Below: Now a pitching coach with the Bulldogs, former Fresno State pitcher Bobby Jones joins Mark Gardner, also a former Bulldog pitcher, for their jersey retirement ceremony.
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The one question to be answered about a game as easy-going as an alumni game is how the players will handle all of the goofiness. In past alumni games the Bulldogs have struggled with their former Bulldog counterparts, but there was no such trouble in this year’s version.
Even with 1992 graduate Terance Frazier wearing a kilt while hitting at the plate the Bulldogs were unfazed, scoring at least one run in seven different innings.
“It’s just a lot of growth,” Sakamoto said. “We’ve got to focus on what we want to accomplish.”
“What was important is that we came out and played catch,” Batesole said.
Before the game began, three Fresno State alums had their jerseys retired and were represented on the left field wall with their name, number, and year graduated placed over a baseball.
Augie Garrido, Mark Gardner and Bobby Jones were all recipients of the honor. Garrido has won several national championships as a college coach while both Gardner and Jones played in the major leagues as pitchers for teams like the Giants, Mets and Padres.
Fresno State will begin its official season this Friday when it heads to Cal Poly for a three game series.
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