Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Sacramento State (Raley Field)
'Dogs Shutout Sac State, 8-0
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By: Matt Burkholder
mburkholder@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Led by freshman starter Ricky Thomas, five Fresno State pitchers combined to shutout Sacramento State 8-0 on the road at Raley Field. The Bulldog offense provided seven two-out runs over the eighth and ninth innings to solidify Fresno State's second-straight road win before heading home to host San Diego State.
"Good road win tonight," said head coach Mike Batesole. "Thomas was fantastic. We were hoping to get him 70-80 pitches. We ended up right exactly there. It was 1-0 so we wanted him to go out and finish the fifth, so that worked out perfectly."
Over five innings, Thomas allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked one. Seven strike outs and five innings on the hill were both career highs for the freshman. The 'Dogs scratched across the game's first run in the top half of the fifth, enough to put Thomas in position for the win.
Fresno State (20-21) retained its narrow 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the seventh on a relay play at the plate that ended the inning. The Hornets' Ryan Locke hit a two-out pinch-hit double, and Dan Deely tried to advance home from first base. Taylor Tempel hit Manny Argomaniz on the relay to catcher Taylor Ward at the plate for the third out of the inning to keep Sacramento State scoreless.
The Bulldogs carried over the momentum the defense built into the top half of the eighth. Using a two-out rally, the Bulldogs scored five times on three hits. Kevin Viers cleared the bases on a triple, scoring three runs, and then Kenny Corey added a two-RBI single. Each Bulldog batter took a plate appearance during Fresno State's five-run seventh inning that built a 6-0 lead.
"Everyone threw great today," said Viers. "We got that one run earlier, but we knew we needed more and whoever needed to clutch up, clutched up and it was fantastic to watch."
Fresno State added two more runs in the ninth, also against two outs. Austin Guibor hit the games second triple for the 'Dogs to score Tempel. Ward hits his team leading 28th RBI of the season for the Bulldogs eighth run.
After 12 games played on the road in a 15-game span, Fresno State returns to Beiden Field on Friday night to host San Diego State. First pitch is a 6:35 p.m.
"Be Bold!" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio.
