Hitting from the backside

'Dogs lead-off man has found niche

By Chhun Sun
The Collegian

NO ONE KNEW.

The only thing he knew was the ball was struck hard and fast, and was heading toward left-center field. His instinct was to run as hard as he could around the bases, thinking it was at least good enough for two. But it was more.

Make that four.

In the first of the three-game series against UCLA two months ago, sophomore lefty Steve Susdorf stepped into the batter’s box in the third inning for his 127th collegiate career at-bat on a foggy night where any object propelled into the sky would prompt a guessing game as to where it would land.

Not even the Bruins’ outfielders could locate the ball, which, in turn, led to the first of two fog delays in the 11-9 victory on Feb. 4.

Susdorf, of course, made it to home plate, still not knowing he just hit his first collegiate home run. That is, not until the left field grounds official at Jackie Robinson Stadium handed him the ball and said, “Oh yeah. I saw it went over the fence.”

“Great. I didn’t see my first home run of college baseball go over the fence,” he thought at the moment.

No worries.

He has seen the other six dingers he hit this year, placing the Newhall, Calif. native as one of the Bulldogs’ home run leaders heading into Friday’s game against Hawaii. He is second to teammate Christian Vitters’ eight.

That’s impressive when comparing his numbers to last year — Susdorf had 113 at-bats and zero home runs.

Not only that, Susdorf has proved himself to be a solid leadoff hitter this season, batting .277 with 21 RBIs and 33 hits. Susdorf also has a team second-best 29 runs.

But the 20-year-old Susdorf remains modest, with a team-first attitude.

“I’m just trying to be a good leadoff hitter, to get on base for my team,” he said. “So we can win games, you know.”

And Fresno State has been doing just that.

The Bulldogs, who finished 16-14 last season, boast a 24-9 record, going 5-1 in Western Athletic Conference action. They had a 17-game winning streak before losing 9-8 to New Mexico State on Sunday.

But it’s still a long season, one Susdorf knew would be a little different than last year, due mostly to the long summer he endured.

He spent most of it in Santa Barbara, playing in a summer baseball league while bulking up, hitting the weight room about five times a week and altering his batting swing.

“Last year, I was hitting on my front side,” he said. “This year, I moved my weight to my backside. I mean, all your power comes from the backside and I wasn’t using it.”

He also got some help from his older brother, Texas Rangers outfielder and former UCLA standout Billy Susdorf.

Billy, 22, was the one who gave his little brother a scouting report of the pitcher he was facing — Bruins pitcher Jason Novak, a former teammate of Billy’s.

“You better hit a home run,” Billy told his brother. That was enough motivation for Steve to get his first outside-of-the-park hit.

At least someone sort of knew before it happened.

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