Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Francisco
Fresno State Rallies For Win Over San Francisco
3/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 1, 2006
Fresno, Calif. - Senior Doug Fister battled through a shaky first inning to record a career-high 10 strikeouts, and Steve Susdorf capped a four-run comeback as the Bulldogs took down San Francisco on Wednesday evening 4-3. Fresno State held the Dons to two hits after the first inning, including three hitless innings from relievers Eddie Romero and Brandon Burke to end the game.
San Francisco started out with the hot bats, opening the game with a comebacker at Doug Fister from Joey Railey, a flare to right by Tavo Hall, and a RBI single from pitcher Scott Cousins put the Dons ahead early. Fister then hit Stefan Gartrell to load the bases. Fister got his first out of the inning by striking out Luke Sommer, but a ground ball from Daniel Morales slipped under third baseman Adam O'Daniel's glove, scoring two more runs to spot the Dons to a 3-0 lead. Fister got out of the inning by retiring the next two batters by strikeout. In all the first five San Francisco outs came from strikeouts by Fister.
Fresno State got their first run on the board in the second inning, when Brian Lapin singled to start the inning. Chase Moore, making his first start of the year at DH, followed that up with a single of his own, and Frank LoNigro also singled to load the bases with no one out. Second baseman Erik Wetzel was able to bring home Lapin with a sacrifice fly, his first of the season to cut the gap to two.
The final San Francisco opportunity occurred in the fourth inning, as Fister started with his seventh strikeout of the night, but leadoff batter Joey Railey reached on an error, and Tavo Hall recorded his second hit of the night to give the Dons runners on the corners, and after a second out, Stefan Gartrell walked to load the bases. Fister closed the door on the rally though, striking out Luke Sommer to keep the Dons scoreless in the fourth.
Fresno State would not be held scoreless in the fourth, as Chase Moore finished a 2-for-2 day at the plate with a home run to right, bringing the `Dogs within one run. From that point on, Fresno State pitching allowed only one runner, keeping the Bulldogs within reach of the San Francisco lead. The wait ended in the seventh inning, as Erik Wetzel dropped down a perfect drag bunt to the left side to reach base safely, and Steve Susdorf hit his sixth home run of the season to put the Bulldogs ahead for good.
Eddie Romero and Brandon Burke combined to pitch 3.0 hitless innings, adding two more strikeouts to the team total to reach 12, a season-high for the Bulldogs. Romero received the win as the pitcher of record in the seventh, and Burke picked up the Bulldogs' first save of the season.
Fresno State will host Portland in a three-game series this weekend beginning Friday at 6:35 p.m. San Francisco has the weekend off before returning for two more games at Pete Beiden Field next week on March 7 and 8.
