Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Nevada
Nevada Defeats Baseball 4-3, in Extra Innings
3/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 3, 2001
RENO, Nev. - Fresno State scored three runs early in the game, but were unable to score when they needed it. The Bulldogs scored two in the second and one in the fourth giving Fresno State an early 3-0 lead. Francisco Nieves started the game for the Bulldogs and pitched five scoreless innings, but in the bottom of the sixth he walked two batters before giving away a home run that tied the game at 3-3. Ozzie Gonzalez entered the game in relief after Nieves gave up the home run and closed out the fifth. Ben Fritz then stepped in to finish off the sixth for Gonzalez. Fritz shut Nevada down in the eighth and ninth, but gave away the winning run in the tenth to drop his record to 0-2. Fritz pitched a solid three innings for the Bulldogs striking out three allowing only one hit and one unearned run. Fritz leads the Bulldogs with four saves so far this season and is one of Fresno States most consistent closers this season.
In the top of the second, Josh Labandeira was hit by a pitch, and the following batter Brad Harper walked putting runners on first and third. With runners on first and second Simon Tafoya doubled to score Labandeira and Harper giving Fresno State a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs added one run in the top of the fourth to increase their lead to 3-0. Labandeira hit a high fly ball into right field for a routine play for the right fielder, but he drop the ball and it bounced away from him. Lanbandeira never stopped running and advanced to third on the fielding error by the center fielder. The next batter, Harper hit a sacrifice fly deep into left field to score Labandeira giving the Bulldogs a comfortable three run lead.
Nevada rallied in the top of the fifth, when Tony Cappuccilli hit a three run home run tying the game at 3-3. Both teams were unable to score in the final three innings of the game sending it into extra innings.
Reviewing the stats one might be led to believe that the Bulldogs who were 3-0 in extra innings games would have an advantage over the Wolf Pack, but unfortunately not today. In the bottom of the tenth, with runners on first and second and two outs Chris Dickerson singled to score the winning run for Nevada giving them a 4-3 victory in ten innings. The Bulldogs record is 12-6 overall, and 6-2 in the WAC. Nevada improves its record to 6-11 overall, and 3-5 in the WAC.
First pitch for Sunday's final game of the three-game series will be at 1 p.m. at William Peccole Park on the campus of the University of Nevada. Paul Loeffler will be doing the play-by-play on KMJ radio 580 with David White from the Fresno Bee doing the color commentary. The pre-game show will start at 12:45 with the game scheduled to start at 1:05p.m.
