Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Nevada
Baseball Road Struggles Continue in Reno
4/27/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By Stephen Trembley
strembley@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
RENO, Nev. - The Fresno State baseball team fell 8-2 on the road at Nevada to open its Western Athletic Conference series on Friday night at William Peccole Park.
"We got beat on defense. We got beat on the mound. We got beat offensively," Fresno State head baseball coach Mike Batesole said. "There's not much good to take from that. We've got to hit in the clutch. (Nevada) did."
Five Bulldogs each posted at least two hits - seniors Patrick Hutcheson (3-for-5) and Kenneth Wise (2-for-4), redshirt junior Trent Garrison (2-for-4, double, RBI), junior Austin Wynns (2-for-3, RBI) and freshman Chris Mariscal (2-for-4) - and Fresno State as a squad combined for 12 hits in the contest, but left 10 runners on base and allowed the Pack to score all of their eight runs unanswered.
"Trent Garrison played a good game," Batesole said of the Bulldogs' first baseman, who in addition to his solid night at the plate, provided a couple of nice grabs in the field.
After swiping his ninth bag of the season, Bulldog sophomore Aaron Judge scored the first run of the game on a two-out, first-inning RBI single by redshirt junior Trent Garrison that gave the 'Dogs an early 1-0 lead.
Garrison smoked a leadoff double in the fourth and later came around to score when catcher Austin Wynns connected for an infield single, which extended the lead to 2-0 through the first four frames.
The Pack charged back in the fifth when they scored three times to take the lead, 3-2, but Judge squashed the rally when he gunned down Nevada's speedy Jay Anderson at the plate on a bullet of a throw from left field.
But Nevada tacked on four more in the sixth and another in the seventh en route to its sixth conference victory of the season.
"We made a couple (mistakes) on routine balls," Batesole noted. "We had a routine three-out ground ball double play ball right up the middle. When you give a team that's swinging the ball well four outs in an inning, that puts a lot on Linehan."
Fresno State's sophomore southpaw starting pitcher Tyler Linehan had tossed four scoreless innings, but allowed three hits to start the fifth inning and the Pack never looked back, especially after being able to capitalize on a costly error and series of defensive lapses stunted any hope for a comeback. Linehan (3-5) took the loss, but did strike out six in his six innings of work from the hill.
Fresno State (17-21, 1-6 WAC) and Nevada (23-18, 6-4 WAC) return to the field at 1 p.m. on Saturday for game two of the three-game weekend series. The contest can be heard live on AM 940 KYNO.
"We have a lot of things to work on that's for sure," Batesole added. "We'll try to right the ship in the game tomorrow."
"Discover Fresno State Athletics!" -- AM 940 KYNO is the flagship radio station for Bulldog Baseball.
