Fresno State Athletics
No. 20 Baseball To Host Rice This Weekend
3/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - No. 20/23 (Baseball Weekly/Baseball America) Fresno State returns to WAC play this weekend, as it hosts Rice in a three-game series at Pete Beiden Field. The Bulldogs (21-7, 6-3) are coming off Tuesday's 3-1 victory at Sacramento State. Fresno State enters this weekend's action one game back in the WAC standings, while Rice (14-14, 4-5) sits three games behind league-leader Hawai'i. First pitches Friday and Saturday are scheduled for 7 p.m., while Sunday's finale is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Fresno State, winners of 21 of its past 26 games and off to its best start since 1988, is hitting .295 as a team and has outscored the opposition 176-120 this season. Six regulars are hitting better than .286, with three players hitting greater than .300. The pitching staff has a 3.64 ERA and opponents are hitting only .255 against them this season.
Rice, which began the season ranked No. 7 in the preseason Top 25 polls, has won five of its last six games to climb back to the .500 mark. It is the first time the Owls have been at the break-even mark since Feb. 22. Rice is hitting .265 as a team and has been outscored 136-132 this season. On the mound, the Owl pitching staff has posted a 3.94 ERA and limited its opponents to a .256 batting average. Eight of Rice's 14 losses this season have been to nationally-ranked teams and the Owls are 3-8 away from the friendly confines of Reckling Park.
Right-hander Tom Graham (Sr., Modesto, Calif.) is scheduled to make his 10th start of the season on Friday for the Bulldogs. Graham is 3-3 with a 4.56 ERA and five quality starts this year. Rice will counter with right-hander Kenny Baugh. Baugh is a perfect 5-0 with a team-best 1.85 ERA and has won his last 16 decisions. Shawn Hannah (Sr., Clovis, Calif.) is slated to make the start on Saturday. Hannah leads the Fresno State starters with a 5-2 record and has a 3.19 ERA. He has quality starts in his last three outings and has five for the season. The Owls will send righty John Skaggs (5-0, 3.14 ERA) to the hill to oppose Hannah. Southpaw Beau Hintz (So., Stockton, Calif.) will start Sunday's finale for the Bulldogs. Hintz is 3-2 and leads the starters with a 2.56 ERA. Rice is slated to send right-hander Marc Gwyn to the mound in the series' final contest. Gwyn is 2-5 with a 3.73 ERA in 2000.
The all-time series dates back to the 1994 season and the two teams have split the 12 meetings. Fresno State ended the Owls five-game winning streak in the series when captured 2-of-3 games on Feb. 25-27 at Reckling Park. The Bulldogs came from behind and won the series' first two games by scores of 5-2 and 9-5. Rice won the series finale by a final count of 8-0, as Baugh tossed his first career shutout, a six-hit, 121-pitch masterpiece. Fresno State has won all three meetings played at Beiden Field, as it swept a three-game series from the Owls on April 4-6, 1997 (2-1, 6-3, 2-1).
