Fresno State Athletics
Baseball Preview: at California [April 28]
4/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By: Matt Burkholder
mburkholder@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
Game 45: Fresno State Bulldogs (21-23, 11-10 MW) at California Golden Bears (26-14, 13-8 Pac-12)
First Pitch: April 28 - Tues: 7 p.m.
Stadium: Evans Diamond
Surface: Grass
Dimensions:320 (LF), 395 (CF), 320 (RF)
All-Time Series: California leads 68-62
Last Meeting: FS defeated CAL, 7-2 (March 25, 2015)
Bay Area Radio: 90.7 KALZ
Video: N/A
Live Stats: calbears.com
Twitter: @FresnoStateBSB
The Fresno State baseball team returns to Evans Diamond on Tuesday for its first series at California since a four-game set in 2013. The Bulldogs have hosted the last three games of the series in Fresno, two which were in 2014 and one earlier this season on March 25 - the Bulldogs won all three contests at home.
In the March 25 game, Fresno State ran a staff night on the mound. Seven pitchers, not throwing more than two full innings, held the Cal to two runs off five hits in a 7-2 win against the then-ranked No. 21 Bears. The Bulldog offense busted open a tight game in the seventh inning, scoring six runs, all against two outs. Manny Argomaniz gave Fresno State the lead, hitting a 2-RBI double down the left field line for a 3-2 lead. Jake Stone then solidified the inning following a throwing error and a walk with a three-run home run to right field.
More recently, Fresno State dropped two of three to San Diego State last weekend. The Bulldogs upped their win streak to three games with an extra inning walk-off 5-4 win thanks to Kevin Viers. The junior turned on the second pitch of the bottom of the 10th for his sixth home run of the season to lift Fresno State on the opening night of the series. The following night the Aztecs tagged the Bulldogs for a season-high 15 runs in a 15-3 loss to even the series. The 'Dogs then lost the rubber game 9-4 on Sunday afternoon.
The story of the weekend were runners allowed on-base by walk or hit by pitch from the Bulldogs - of the 28 runs scored against Fresno State, 13 of those were Aztecs that were put on base without swinging the bat.
Fresno State continues to be led by one of its five seniors on the team from the plate as Taylor Tempel continues to produce hits. Tempel has connected for two or more hits in eight of the last 11 games. He is batting a team-best, .360. Another `Dog to watchout for is Viers. The junior first baseman batted .357 last week over four games and had a .786 slugging percentage.
The Golden Bears are fresh off a three-game sweep of Arizona. It was head coach Mike Esquer's first sweep in 16 seasons at Cal over the Wildcats in Tucson. Cal is ranked No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball poll this week, and unranked in the other major polls.
The Diamond 'Dogs return to Mountain West action on the road against rival San Jose State on Friday. Following the three-game weekend series vs. the Spartans, the Bulldogs return home for a midweek contest against Cal State Northridge on May 5.
"Be Bold!" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio.
