Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Diego State
Offense Explodes in 15-7 Rout vs. SDSU
5/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By: Matt Burkholder
mburkholder@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
RENO, Nev. - The Fresno State baseball team exploded for a 15-7 rout against San Diego State at the Mountain West tournament on Thursday. Fresno State advances to play Friday night at 7 p.m. vs. the winner of Thursday's MW tournament nightcap between Nevada and New Mexico.
"Like you guys saw, our offense was clicking today," said Taylor Tempel. "We went out there and attacked the fast ball. Our pitchers have been pitching well for the last month and half, and we're just trying to piggyback off that."
Fresno State recorded season highs in both runs (15) and hits (19), as 11 different Bulldogs registered a hit on Thursday. Tempel and Manny Argomaniz led the 'Dogs with four hits each - Tempel posted his third four-hit game over the last 12 games, while teammate Manny Argomaniz recorded his first career four-hit game. As a team, the Bulldogs have tallied double-digit hits in six of the last nine contests.
The Bulldogs jumped in front 6-0 thanks to a five-run third inning. Fresno State batted around the order in an inning it rang up six hits. Taylor Ward started the scoring with a safety squeeze, he pushed across Tempel who got on board due to an Aztec error to start the third. Following Ward's RBI, four of the next five Bulldog batters hit RBI base hits, scoring one Fresno State run on each hit.
SDSU started to get to Fresno State starter Jake Shull in the third, the Aztecs recorded three hits in each the third, fourth and fifth. As a result, SDSU plated one in the fourth, while four crossed the plate in the fifth to bring the game within two, 7-5. Albeit the four-run fifth was aided by two Fresno State fielding errors, which led to only one of the three runs being charged to Shull.
"Shully you know they banged him around for 10 hits, but that's a terrific ball club right there," said head coach Mike Batesole. "The bottom line is that he kept them from touching home and that's what it's all about. They can get all the hits they want, don't let them touch home. When he got them with runners in scoring position, that's when he was really tough."
The 'Dogs answered back the next half inning with two runs (top of the sixth), but blew the game wide-open in the eighth with a six-run, four-hit inning. The 'Dogs batted around the order for the second time in the game as they opened up a 15-5 lead.
"As far as this field, this specific field, this isn't our first rodeo," said Argomaniz. "We know that there's no safe lead, so we expect to get a lot of runs and we also expect to give up a run or two. The thing is to never give up and keep the fight going, and that's what we've done the last couple days."
Argomaniz lifted his fourth home run of the season in the second inning for Fresno State's first run, and first of the game. Fresno State is now 23-6 this season when scoring first.
Coach Batesole earned his 699th career win on Thursday and will seek No. 700 as a winner of nine of the last 10 games.
"Be Bold!" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio.
