Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Jose St
No. 15 Diamond Men Fall In Extra Innings
4/29/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 29, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - No. 15 Fresno State rallied from three deficits but lost to San Jose State 5-4 in 11 innings on Saturday night at Pete Beiden. The announced attendance of 4,077 was the largest crowd to witness a Bulldog baseball game at Beiden Field since the 1998 season opener against Stanford on Jan. 30. Fresno State dropped to 33-14 overall and 14-9 in the WAC with the loss, while San Jose State improved to 31-16 overall and moved two games ahead of the 'Dogs in conference play at 16-7.
"Both teams played hard and wanted to win," Fresno State head coach Bob Bennett said. "Both teams also played with a lot of courage and guts. When we got ahead of them, they came back and when they got ahead of us, we came back. They just did a better job than us tonight."
San Jose State lit up the scoreboard first with a run in the first inning against Bulldog starting pitcher Shawn Hannah (Sr., Clovis, Calif.). The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the fourth, but the Spartans responded with tally in the fifth to knot the game at two. San Jose State regained the lead with a run in the seventh, but the 'Dogs rallied again with a run in their half of the frame to tie the game at three. The game then went to extra innings after both teams failed to score in the final two frames.
The Spartans struck first in overtime, as they plated a run in 10th against Bulldog reliever Hans Smith (Sr., Central Point, Ore.). Fresno State responded with a run in their half of the inning when Brandon Gemoll (So., San Jose, Calif.) drove in Tom Creighton (So., Weldon, Calif.) from second base with a two-out single up the middle. However, San Jose State struck again in the 11th and scored the winning run on a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt and single through the middle by Brandon Macchi.
"We pitched against the grain tonight," Bennett said. "We walked the guy to lead off the 11th and their cleanup hitter came through in a clutch situation."
Hannah started and posted up a no-decision. He allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and struck out two in 6.1 innings for his team-leading eighth quality start of the year. Smith relieved Hannah in the seventh and picked up the loss. He allowed a pair of runs on five hits and struck out five over the final 4.2 innings. His record dropped to 8-2 for the season. It was the first time Fresno State had lost a game in which Hannah started since Jan. 29 against Stanford. The Bulldogs are now 11-2 when the 6-foot-3 right-hander takes the hill this season.
Nick Garcia (Jr., Lakewood, Calif.) paced the Bulldog offense by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI double in the fourth. Gemoll added a pair of hits for his team-leading 25th multi-hit contest of the season. Josh Labandeira (Jr., Porterville, Calif.) went 1-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to seven games. Creighton committed an error in the first inning, his first since Feb. 27, and saw his consecutive chances streak without a miscue end at 172.
"Tomorrow's game is really big," Bennett said. "It's a different day tomorrow."
Fresno State will try to salvage the final game of the three-game set on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Nick Moran (So., Elk Grove, Calif.) is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season for the Bulldogs. Moran is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA this year. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. at Beiden Field.
