Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State Hosts San Francisco For Two Games
3/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 7, 2006
Fresno, Calif. -
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On Deck
Fresno State takes a different approach to playing three games this week, with their first scheduled weekend break. Instead, the Bulldogs will complete a midweek series with San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday with both games beginning at 6:35 p.m. Fresno State then gets Friday and Saturday off before piling into seven games in seven days, beginning with Bucknell at 1:05 p.m. Sunday before beginning the seven-team Pepsi Johnny/Quik classic on Monday. Both San Francisco games are scheduled to air on KMJ 580, with Paul Loeffler calling the action and 1988 All-American Steve Hosey providing analysis. The games can also be followed online at www.gobulldogs.com through Gametracker.
Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic
Fresno State hosts the 28th annual Pepsi/Johnny Quik classic beginning on March 13 at 10 a.m. The tournament has a slightly different format due to the late withdrawal of Savannah State, leaving the remaining teams playing in a round-robin format, leaving the team with the best record against the other six to be the champion for the year. Fresno State will play in the 7 p.m. game all six days, beginning with Miami (Ohio) on Monday, and finishing with Lafayette on Saturday. With only 21 games scheduled rather than the traditional 24, the 10 a.m. slots on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are reserved to make up games which are halted due to weather or time constraints.
Scouting San Francisco
Fresno State evened the score a little with the San Francisco Dons last week, winning a 4-3 battle after losing twice to the Dons last season in the Pepsi Johnny/Quik Classic. The Bulldogs relied on their starting pitching once again, as Doug Fister had the first three batters hit singles on the way to a three run inning for San Francisco, but only allowed two more hits while striking out a career-high 10 to help pace the Bulldogs to the win. Steve Susdorf hit his sixth home run to give the Bulldogs the lead in the win. With the loss of first-team All-WCC pitcher Nick Perreira, the Dons are relying much more on their offense, which is split clearly down the middle. The team is batting .281 overall, but much of that credit is due to their four most dangerous hitters, Joey Railey (.415), Stefan Gartrell (.380), Scott Cousins (.351) and Tavo Hall (.309). The next higest batter with 30 at bats is Luke Sommer at .224.
Pounding Portland
Fresno State completed their first sweep of the season against Portland, outscoring the Pilots 25-7 over the three game series. The weekend series also featured Fresno State's first rainout and doubleheader of the year, one that worked out in the team's favor. The team took both games on the Saturday following a first-day rainout, with Andy Underwood and Eddie Romero accounting for all but three innings of pitching on the day. Romero and closer Jason Breckley combined for the team's third shutout of the year in the second game, and Underwood went eight innings, allowing only four hits. As a team, the Bulldogs doubled the Pilots' hit total, 32-16 and batted .323 over the series. Kent Sakamoto was 4-for-5 in the first game , scoring two runs, and Brian Lapin had two hits in the second game. The team had a huge day in the finale, putting up 16 runs on 14 hits to complete the sweep behind Brandon Burke, who made his second start of the season.
ABC's Of The PJQ
Gonzaga looks like the strongest team of the visiting participants heading into the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic this year. The third-place finisher in 2005, Gonzaga boasts 2006 wins over Pac-10 schools Arizona State and Oregon State, but has lost to another PJQ participant, Washington State, falling 18-10 on March 3 in Pullman. Washington State has the most impressive record of any of the participating schools, owning a 13-2 record, but wins in that group include four games against Hawai'i-Hilo, Lewis and Clark State and Chicago State. The remaining four schools come from cold-weather climates, and the Pepsi/Johnny Quik will be in the opening part of their schedules.
