Fresno State Athletics
Weather Also Alters Baseball Series
5/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By Stephen Trembley
strembley@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
UPDATE - May 10, 2012 (11:25 a.m. PT)
The Fresno State-New Mexico State baseball game scheduled for tonight (Thursday, May 10) has been postponed until Friday at 2 p.m. PT due to an inclement weather forecast.
The game will be the front end of a doubleheader with the regularly scheduled Friday night game starting at either 5:05 p.m. PT or approximately 30-45 minutes after the end of the first game. The series will conclude with Saturday afternoon's previously scheduled 12:05 p.m. PT contest.
May 9, 2012
LAS CRUCES, N.M. --- There's no escaping that the final two weeks of the regular season are crunch time for the Fresno State baseball team.
Fresno State (21-23, 4-8 WAC) visits New Mexico State (30-17, 7-5 WAC) this week where both offenses will be featured in the hitter-friendly confines of the Aggies' Presley Askew Field.
The series will start with a Friday doubleheader at 2 p.m. PT and finish Saturday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. PT. All three tilts can be heard live in the San Joaquin Valley on AM 940 KYNO.
But the magnitude of these closing six games cannot be underscored with the Bulldogs a half game back of a surging Louisiana Tech, who just swept San Jose State in Ruston last weekend, but sit idle this weekend, and Fresno State needing a strong finish to have a chance to defend its conference tournament crown that it has captured in five of the past six years.
Yet the Bulldogs, who are the six-time defending Western Athletic Conference champions (regular season or tournament), remain in control of their own destiny to qualify for their last WAC Tournament before joining the Mountain West on July 1.
It's that simple - if the 'Dogs win all six of its final six games, they will qualify for the conference tournament in Mesa.
But, make no mistake, the 'Dogs are not in elimination games yet. They can win as few as the right combination of three or four (depending on how the next two weekends shape up) of their final six games and still make to Mesa.
However, if you talk to any of the Bulldogs, they are solely focused on taking care of their own business on the field and not leaving anything to chance.
There's no escaping the importance of this time of year. It's crunch time.
Bulldog Bones
• Trent Garrison (1B) owns a team-best .331 batting average and 27 RBIs to go with eight doubles and two home runs
• Aaron Judge is batting .317 with 10 doubles and three home runs that has scared opponents into walking him a whopping 36 times, which is 12 more free passes than for any other Bulldog. The 6-7, 250-pound outfielder also has swiped bases successfully in 11 of his 12 attempts this year.
• Jake Alvarez, a sophomore third baseman, has lit it up to a .318 clip for the season, including four doubles and 10 runs scored.
• Kenneth Wise (DH) is the WAC's reigning Hitter of the Week after going 10-for-14 last week with two doubles, a triple, a home run and 7 RBI in leading the `Dogs to a win over UC Davis and two against Sacramento State.
• Thomas Harlan (2.58 ERA), Justin Haley (2.97 ERA) and Tyler Linehan (3.77 ERA) have combined for 14 of the Bulldogs' 21 wins this season.
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