Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawaii
Bob Bennett Earns 1,300th Career Victory
5/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2002
FRESNO, Calif. - On a warm night in Fresno that saw the infestation of flying ants, Fresno State (30-27, 17-11 WAC) defeated Hawai'i (16-38, 5-23 WAC) 5-3. With the win Bob Bennett became the seventh coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,300 victories. The Bulldogs also assured themselves of having their 26th consecutive winning season.
In Bennett's 34 years as head coach at Fresno State, he's only had two losing seasons, which were in 1975 and '76.
"I'm happy to reach this milestone, but I'm even happier that we made this a winning season," said Bennett.
With the win the Bulldogs also stretched a streak of at least 30 wins since 1987.
"It was nice to get this victory. We knew how much it meant to coach and the program. We wanted to finish the season strong and get the 30 wins," said sophomore third baseman Casey McGehee (Santa Cruz, Calif.).
Junior RHP Ben Fritz (San Jose, Calif.) was looking for payback after dropping his first decision against the Rainbows earlier this season. Fritz turned in eight strong innings, allowing just three runs with two being earned while striking out eight and walking none.
Hawai'i struck first in the game as third baseman Daniel Mocny led off the game with a triple and was later brought home on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Lane Nogawa.
The Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the second on a sacrfice fly of their own by senior outfielder Tobey Riday-White (Berkeley, Calif.).
The Rainbows got two more in the fourth inning with an RBI double by shortstop Julian Russell, who would score the second run later in the inning on an error.
Hawai'i would get no more as Fritz and freshman RHP Chad Edwards (Gosford, Australia) closed the door on the Rainbows. Edwards picked up his second save of the season pitching a scoreless ninth. Fritz finished the season with a 9-5 record.
Fresno State tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth inning on a two-run homer by junior outfielder Joey Myers (Fresno, Calif.) that brought in Riday-White.
In the middle of the seventh inning the action on the field took a backseat to the flying ants that invaded the Beiden Field grandstands. Fans took cover as millions of flying ants swarmed the seating area.
In the eighth inning McGehee singled in Beshears to give FS the 4-3 lead. Riday-White added an insurance run in the inning with his second sacrifice fly of the game.
McGehee finished the game, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. With the hits, he extended his on-base streak to 41 games.
Fresno State and Hawai'i will continue their series tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. At 6 p.m. tomorrow, the Pete Beiden Statue will be unveiled on the third base side behind the grandstands.
