Fresno State Athletics
No. 15 Bulldogs, San Jose State To Battle This Weekend
4/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 27, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - First place in the WAC will be on the line this weekend, as No. 15/16/24 (USA Today Baseball Weekly/Baseball America/Collegiate Baseball Magazine) Fresno State (33-12) hosts San Jose State (29-16) at Pete Beiden Field. The two teams enter the three-game series with identical 14-7 records in conference play. First pitches Friday and Saturday are scheduled for 7 p.m. and Sunday's finale is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Fresno State is coming off Tuesday's dramatic 6-5 come-from-behind victory against San Francisco. The 'Dogs plated five runs in the eighth inning to tie the game and scored the winning run with two outs in the ninth for their 14th comeback win of the season. This week's ranking by Baseball Weekly is the highest ranking for the Bulldogs since May 22, 1997. Fresno State leads the conference with a .300 batting average and .971 fielding percentage -- which also ranks seventh in the nation -- and are third in the WAC with a 3.88 ERA.
San Jose State shutout San Francisco State by a score of 12-0 on Tuesday afternoon. The Spartans are hitting .277 as a team and have outscored their opponents 270-199 this season. The strength of the team lies in the pitching staff. San Jose State has a 3.70 ERA, which ranks second in the WAC.
Right-hander Tom Graham (Sr., Modesto, Calif.) is scheduled to start the series opener on Friday night for the Bulldogs. Graham is 6-4 with a 4.64 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) this season. San Jose State will counter with left-hander Chris Key (9-1, 2.92 ERA). Shawn Hannah (Sr., Clovis, Calif.) is slated to start on Saturday. Hannah, who was named WAC Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday, is 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA in 13 appearances (12 starts) this year. The 6-foot-3 right-hander is coming off his first career shutout in his last start (April 21 at Hawai'i-Hilo) and he has tossed two consecutive complete games. Righty Joey Baker (6-6, 3.68 ERA) will oppose Hannah in the series' middle game. Fresno State has yet to name a starter for Sunday's finale. Whoever starts will face Spartan southpaw Tim Adinolfi (5-1, 2.37 ERA), who shared last week's Pitcher of the Week honors with Hannah.
Tom Creighton (So., Weldon, Calif.) and Brandon Gemoll (So., San Jose, Calif.) both bring career-high hitting streaks into this weekend's series. Creighton has hit safely in 16 consecutive contests, while Gemoll has a 15-game hitting streak. The hitting streaks are the longest since Josh Hannah hit safely in a school-record 38 consecutive games from Feb. 26, 1997-Jan. 30, 1998. Creighton also has reached base by either hit, walk or hit by pitch in 34 consecutive games and Gemoll has hit safely in 22 of his past 23 contests.
The Bulldogs hold a commanding lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1951 season, 112-48. The 160 meetings are the most against any opponent in Fresno State baseball history. The Bulldogs have won three consecutive games in the series, as it swept last year's series at Beiden Field by scores of 10-3, 11-5 and 9-8. The in-state rivals have met six times in the postseason and Fresno State holds a 4-2 edge in those meetings. The two squads met 28 times in the 1990s.
