Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
UNLV
'Dogs Keep Rolling, Defeat UNLV 8-3
5/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By: Matt Burkholder
mburkholder@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
LAS VEGAS - The Fresno State baseball team defeated UNLV 8-3 on Saturday to secure the series win and will look for the sweep Sunday. The Bulldogs have now won four-straight and six of their last eight road games with four games remaining in the regular season.
For the second day in a row, Fresno State (26-25, 15-11 MW) got off to a hot start. The Bulldogs scored six runs and tallied seven hits en route to batting around the order in the third inning - 11 batters went to the plate. The hitting show resulted in the exit of Rebels starting pitcher D.J. Myers 2 2/3 innings into the game, the same pitcher that held Fresno State to one hit in Fresno on Feb. 28.
"We had a couple guys that were turned to bunt and their defense was playing a little deep, and then they started throwing some balls and we ended up swinging away and got some clutch hits," said head coach Mike Batesole about his teams ability to break through in the third inning. "I thought Jesse's [Medrano] was probably the biggest hit of the day, and then holy moly, a couple of the defensive plays he made out there was big league stuff."
Ryan Dobson led off the third with a single, and then Jesse Medrano doubled against a full count to start the offense's momentum. Taylor Tempel connected for the first of four hits on the day next, and the Bulldogs led 2-0. Kevin Viers put down a drag bunt single for the third RBI. Kenny Corey hit the only double of the third, which was a two-out RBI that scored two runs aided by a throwing error to allow Viers to score along with Ward. Brody Russell connected for another two-out RBI hit to give Fresno State a 6-0 lead.
In the last two games, Fresno State has manufactured seven two-out RBI base hits.
Ricky Thomas provided another solid outing on the mound for Fresno State. After picking up his first career weekend start and win at San Jose State last weekend, he backed that up with another win on the bump Saturday. Thomas tossed 6 2/3 innings of baseball and surrendered two earned runs off of six hits. Both runs were the result of three hits allowed in the seventh.
The trio of Dominic Topoozian, Brennon Williams and William Munro closed out Saturday's game.
Fresno State produced the second most hits of the season with 16 (17 at USC on March 17) to follow Friday's 14-hit game. Tempel accounted for four hits (two doubles) and tied a single-game career high that he set last week at San Jose State. Guibor was 3-for-4 and Taylor Ward, Kenny Corey and Brody Russell each chipped in two hits.
The series finale is Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
"Be Bold!" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio.
