Fresno State Athletics
Baseball Opens 2003 Season
1/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 30, 2003
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What's Next
Fresno State will open the season with the 24th annual alumni game on Saturday ... The old-timers game will open the day's events at noon, followed by the younger alumni squaring off against the 2003 Bulldog squad at 2 p.m. ... Last year, the alumni won its fourth game in five years, defeating the 2002 squad 5-2. Bobby Jones, Jeff Weaver and Dennis Springer limited Fresno State to one run over six innings to pace the alumni to victory ... The Bulldogs' last victory in the series was a 7-6 triumph in 2001 ... However, Fresno State maintains a 19-4 advantage in the overall series ... The Bulldogs then hit the road for the season opener at UC Irvine on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m.
Off on the Right Foot
Since 1976, Fresno State is 16-12 in season openers ... During that stretch, the most common opponent is Stanford ... The 'Dogs are 1-6 against the Cardinal when opening the season ... Last year's 8-5 win at Santa Clara was the Bulldogs first season opening win in five years ... This season's opener against the Anteaters marks the first time the Bulldogs have opened a season with a weekday road game since 1982 when they dropped a 4-2 decision at Stanford ... Was the second straight year the Bulldogs had opened the year in such a fashion ... Lost at UC Berkeley 3-2 in 1981 ... Fresno State's last weekday season lid-lifter at home was 1995 when the 'Dogs nipped Pacific 3-2 ... The last time the Bulldogs opened the season against UC Irvine was 1983 when FS won two of three against the Anteaters in Fresno ... The series was also the first meeting between the two schools ... The Bulldogs are 6-6 in season openers on the road ... Mike Batesole is 6-1 in season openers including a 1-1 mark on the road.
Fresno State vs. UC Irivine
Fresno State leads the all-time series, 26-5, since 1983 ... Head coach Mike Batesole held a 3-0 record against the Anteaters while at Cal State Northridge, including a three-game sweep of UCI to close out the reagular season last year ... Last season, Ryan Haag batted .417 (5-for-12) with seven runs scored against UC Irvine ... With an 11-6 victory over UCI last season (May 18), Cal State Northridge clinched the Big West Conference title ... This is the second straight year the the FS and UCI have met after a 10-year hiatus ... between 1983 and 1992 the teams met every year ... From 1985 to 1992 they were conference rivals in the PCAA (1985-88) and in the Big West (1989-92) ... During that stretch Fresno State enjoyed a 15-game winning streak (1988-92) over its intrastate rivals ... The Anteaters snapped the drought last year with an 8-3 win in Irvine ... UCI's Matt Anderson went 4-for-5 with a homer and 3 RBIs and Jon Koller and Paul French tossed 5.1 scoreless innings in relief to secure the victory.
Probable Starters
FS RHP Cody Smith (0-0) vs. UCI RHP Brett Smith (0-0, 0.00)
Youth is Served
This season's pitching staff does not have a hurler who has started a game for Fresno State ... Only three pitchers who played last year return (Chad Edwards, Matt Scott, David Bair) ... Those three accounted for three wins (Edwards 1, Scott 1, Bair 1), 37 appearances (Edwards 12, Scott 8, Bair 17) and 42.1 innings (Edwards 20.0, Scott 9.2, Bair 12.2) in 2002 ... Transfers Josh Glynn (Arkansas) and Donnie Bair (Louisiana Lafayette) are the only other Bulldog pitchers with experience at the Division I level ... Glynn (3) and Bair (3) provide all the starting experience (6) for this year's staff.
