Bulldogs collect 44 runs in sweep of Nevada
All-time record for runs in an inning broken in Saturday's blowout win
By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian
The Fresno State baseball team ran a marathon — in baseball terms — over the course of its three game series with the Nevada Wolf Pack.
The Bulldogs (33-16, 12-6 Western Athletic Conference) plated 44 runs on 50 hits in the series, outscoring the visiting Nevada (17-26, 5-12 WAC) team by 33 runs.
Included in the scoring onslaught was a record setting, 13-run bottom of the second inning in Saturday’s 19-3 Bulldogs win. Every batter in the starting lineup collected at least one hit in the game, including Beau Mills, whose second-inning grand slam was a part of the Bulldogs’ 13-run inning.
The previous Fresno State record for runs in an inning was 12, against Cal Poly in 1983 and Illinois in 2001.
Fresno State also earned a 13-2 victory over the Wolf Pack Friday before Saturday’s 19-3 blowout and Sunday’s 12-6 win.
Bulldogs head coach Mike Batesole sent a less than 100 percent Andy Underwood to the mound, Sunday, and Underwood delivered, throwing six innings and allowing only one earned run on nine hits.
“Woody gamed up today,” Batesole said. “He wasn’t even at the ballpark yesterday.
“He showed up today and you could see he wasn’t all there. But he gamed up and came out and threw strikes and charged it up there after them — and you gotta love that.”
A sweep of the Wolf Pack puts the Bulldogs in the middle of a three team WAC race that includes Fresno State, Hawaii and San Jose State. The Rainbows currently lead the conference with a 14-6 record while the Bulldogs and Spartans share a tie for second place with each holding a 12-6 conference record.
San Jose State will come to Fresno this weekend for a three-game series against the Bulldogs, setting up an elimination weekend for either of the two teams, according to Batesole.
“It’s gonna be elimination weekend for one of us next weekend,” Batesole said. “Mathematically, that’s not true because [the Spartans] got Hawaii the next weekend but in all probability, one of us is probably going to be eliminated next week from winning the league championship.”
The Bulldogs have earned five straight victories heading down the stretch of the WAC season, and with only one home series and one road series remaining, Fresno State will have to come up big more down the stretch, Batesole said.
“We’re right in the middle of it,” Batesole said. “Five in a row right when we had to have them and next week won’t be any different, we’ll have to have them again.”
Fresno State players were unavailable for comment following Sunday’s game.
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