Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Dogs Sweep Bows in DH, Earn a Series Split
3/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2008
HONOLULU - Fresno State used excellent pitching , defense and the long ball in earning sweep of the University of Hawaii at scenic Les Murakami Stadium on the UH campus. The Dogs swept the Bows by scores of 5-0 and 4-2, winning a thrilling extra-inning game in the night cap.
The day began with the Dogs staring a troubling dilemma in the face. After losing the first two games of the four-game Western Athletic Conference series, had the Dogs not swept the double header Saturday, they would have been faced an uphill climb to win a third straight Western Athletic Conference title.
"What we saw today was a gutsy performance," said head coach Mike Batesole after the Dogs won the 10-inning affair. "I liked the fire in the dugout. They were not to be denied. We let a couple get away the last two days, but they were determined not to let that happen today."
Game 1
Fresno State 5, Hawaii 0
Clayton Allison, the 2008 WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year and 2007 All-WAC selection pitcher, lived up to his reputation in his first WAC game of the season. He threw his first career complete game, allowing just four hits, in a 5-0 victory in the first game of the Saturday's double-header from Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
Allison, Visalila, Calif., led the WAC with 10 wins last season and earned his first of the 2008 season. He struck out four batters and walked just one.
For the third time in this series the winning team recorded a shutout behind excellent starting pitching.
The Dogs scored their first run of the series in the fifth inning when third baseman Tommy Mendonca singled to left and stole second base. He scored when Danny Muno singled to right field.
The Dogs blew the game open in the eighth inning when Muno reached via a walk, his second of the game, and then pinch hitter Gavin Hedstrom singled moving Muno to third base. With one out, Erik Wetzel, the WAC-leader in hits, singled up the middle to score Muno. Then left fielder Steve Susdorf drilled the next pitch deep out of Murakami Stadium, the hardest hit ball in the series, that scored Hedstrom and Wetzel giving the Dogs a 5-0 lead.
It was the first homerun of the season for Susdorf and the 27th of his career. He's tied with Steve Vondran (1988-89) for seventh-most in Bulldog history. His career total of 145 RBIs also ranks seventh-best in Fresno State history.
The Dogs finished the game with six hits, two by Susdorf.
Game 2
Fresno State 4, Hawaii 2 (10 innings)
Throughout the four-game series between Fresno State and Hawaii, pitching and defense dominated. Through the first 58 inning frames of the series that started Thursday in Honolulu, runs were scored in just six.
So it would figure that since the final game of the series would not end in a shutout, it would require extra innings.
The Dogs and Bows concluded a double-header Saturday afternoon and finished a four-game WAC series with Fresno State scoring two runs in the top of the 10th inning to win the game 4-2.
The heroics for game the fourth game in the series came from freshman Danny Muno, proving that dynamite does come in small packages.
Muno, the smallest Bulldog on the roster, continues to carry one of the team's biggest bats. His two-run homerun to left field in the top of the fifth inning scored catcher Danny Grubb and gave the Dogs a 2-0 lead. It was his first career homerun out of arguably one on the nation's toughest ball parks. His homerun was off starter Matt Daly, who entered the game leading the Bows in wins this season.
Muno has 17 hits in his last 14 games and ranks in the top 10 in the WAC in batting average.
Starting pitcher Justin Miller entered the game with the WAC's best opponent's batting average of .145, threw four innings of a shutout ball.
Miller, a Valley native from Bakersfield, had never been on a plane or left the State of California prior to his trip to Hawaii. Miller was nearly flawless through the first five innings, allowing just four hits and throwing a shutout.
He left in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and then before the inning closed, the Bows scored two runs to tie the game 2-2. He finished pitching 4 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and two runs and he struck out two Hawaii batters.
The scored remained tied into the 10th inning when Steve Susdorf doubled with one out and then scored on a triple by Alan Ahmady. After Ryan Overland was hit by a pitch, Steve Detwiler reached on a fielder's choice that scored Ahmady and gave the Dogs a 4-2 lead.
Brandon Burke pitched the final three innings of the game for the Dogs and earned the victory, his second of the season. He closed out the 10th inning getting Hawaii to easily ground out to end the game.
The Bulldogs improved their record of 10-12 overall and 2-2 in the WAC.
"Join the State - Fresno State!" -
The Fresno State baseball team returns home March 24 against Cal Poly. Log on to www.gobulldogs.com and click on Tickets.
