Diamond 'Dogs have reached
step it up point
Losing early creating urgency for 'Dogs
Juan Villa / The Collegian
Fresno State’s Erik Wetzel committed one of the Bulldogs’ three errors in their loss to Northridge. Wetzel came through offensively though, hitting an RBI single in the sixth inning.
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By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian
You never know what to expect from a player or coach after a 10-3 drubbing at the hands of a visiting Cal State Northridge team.
For Fresno State’s Steve Susdorf, it was a flustered, wide-eyed look with only words of frustration to explain how the Bulldogs could play perhaps their best game of the season the night before, to perhaps the worst game the following night.
For Susdorf’s coach, Mike Batesole, it was more like laughter in the form of disbelief, except his eyes were glued to the box score.
Scoring only three runs in a game when the opposing team commits five errors defensively will do that to you. Giving up an average of one run per pitcher used will do it to you as well. That’s right, 10 pitchers used and 10 runs were scored, though not every pitcher gave up a run.
“This whole deal is a learning process,” Batesole said.
It would just be a bit more fun to learn while winning, sort of like the Fresno State basketball team.
They too have some work to do, more than you would expect from a 17-8 team, but they are in fact, 17-8.
And for the now 2-6 baseball team, winning is beginning to become urgent.
“Oh, there’s a sense of urgency,” Batesole said.
“We need to start winning right now, obviously,” Susdorf said.
The worst thing about the inconsistency of losing for the Bulldogs is the fact that it is a new struggle every game, or a combination of struggles from previous games.
This includes the kind of at-bats the Bulldogs have had at the plate, something Batesole is constantly harping about.
Here’s a somewhat staggering stat from Fresno State’s loss to the Matadors on Wednesday: In 39 plate appearances for the Bulldogs, only 11 times did they reach a count of at least two balls. Only four times did a batter draw at least three balls, three of which are credited to Loren Storey, who walked in each of those at-bats. No coincidences there.
By comparison, Northridge had 21 of 46 counts with at least two balls (every starter had at least one), and 11 of those saw at least three balls in the count.
Exactly what does this mean? Well, in terms of runs, it means Northridge 10, Bulldogs 3.
I’m not claiming to be a know-it-all, but these stats speak for themselves.
If anything, at least it’s a starting point.
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