Bulldogs rally late to defeat UNLV 7-2 Saturday

Saturday, May 14

Las Vegas, Nev.

2:05 PM

Fresno State

35-17, 21-8

UNLV

22-28, 12-14

Fresno State

UNLV

Senior Kevin Viers hit his fifth home run of the season and 18th in his career on Saturday.

Bulldogs rally late to defeat UNLV 7-2 Saturday

5/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 14, 2016

Box Score

By: Travis Blanshan
tblanshan@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com

LAS VEGAS - Junior pitcher Jimmy Lambert improved to a perfect 10-0 on the season and senior designated hitter Kevin Viers hit a three-run home run to help Fresno State defeat UNLV 7-2 on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs clinched a first-round bye in the Mountain West Tournament.

"We did a good job fighting it out with two strikes and got a few good two-strike hit off of their starting pitcher (Kenny Oakley)," said head coach Mike Batesole after the win.

"Jimmy had a great performance, Jesse (Medrano) made some great plays at third base, Aaron's (Arruda) double down the right field line and then Viers stepping up with a home run. Winning a game like this is a huge shot in the arm for momentum and knowing we can win a game like this. It is especially important when you understand where we are playing the conference tournament (New Mexico) and the conditions will be almost exactly like they were today. We have to be able to have some power in the middle of the order and need Kevin to continue to supply that for us."

Fresno State (35-17, 21-8 MW) won its fifth straight road game and has now won nine of its last ten games overall. After a slow start offensively falling behind 1-0 after six innings, the 'Dogs offense started to heat up in the final three innings striking for seven runs over the final three innings.

Leading the way for the 'Dogs with two hits apiece were junior second baseman Scott Silva, junior third baseman Jesse Medrano and sophomore catcher Nick Warren. Four other Bulldogs had one hit each as Fresno State finished with 10 hits as a team. Viers added his fifth home run of the season and Arruda chipped in his 14th double while adding his team-leading 42nd RBI.

UNLV (22-28, 12-14 MW) countered with eight hits as second baseman Justin Jones and designated hitter Cooper Esmay had two hits each. Jones added a double and RBI. Catcher Andrew Yazdanbakhsh drove in the other run and shortstop Austin Anderson scored a run.

The Rebels got the on board first in the sixth inning with a two-out RBI single to right field by Jones scored center fielder Payton Squier from second. After getting at least one runner on base in the first five innings, Squier made it six innings in a row for UNLV jumping on base with a one-out walk and stole second before coming home on Jones' hit.

The 'Dogs quickly responded with two runs in the seventh inning as Viers started the rally reaching base on a throwing error by the Rebels' third baseman Kyle Isbel. A single to right field by Medrano put runners on the corners for shortstop Batesole.

Entering the bat hitless in his last 18 at-bats, the sophomore broke out of his slump with a bloop single to left field driving home Warren and Medrano to give the 'Dogs a 2-1 lead.

The 'Dogs kept the offense going in the top of the eighth with a four-run frame as Silva got on base after a throwing error by the Rebel second baseman allowed him to advance to second base. Arruda followed with a ground-rule double to right field scoring Silva to put the 'Dogs up 3-1.

With junior right fielder Austin Guibor drawing his second walk of the day to put runners at first and second, Viers followed drilling a 1-0 pitch to left field to clear the bases for his 18th career home run giving the 'Dogs a commanding 6-1 lead.

The Rebels got one run back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI groundout by Yazdanbakhsh, but the 'Dogs were able to get the run back in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by junior outfielder Jake Stone driving home Warren from third to put the 'Dogs up 7-2.

Lambert tossed seven strong inning allowing five hits, one earned run, issued two walks and struck out five to pick up his 10th win. Senior Tim Borst made his MW-leading 26th appearance throwing the final two inning allowing three hits, one earned run and struck out four.

UNLV starter Kenny Oakley threw 8.0 innings in his final start at home allowing eight hits, six runs, four earned and struck out eight.

The Bulldogs finish up Mountain West play and go for the sweep of the Rebels on Sunday with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Freshman right-hander Edgar Gonzalez (2-1, 3.44) will square off against Dean Kremer (3-4, 4.23) for UNLV.

With Nevada's 17-11 win at New Mexico on Saturday night, the Bulldogs have an opportunity to clinch at least a share of the Mountain West regular season title with a win over UNLV on Sunday.

A Bulldog victory combined with a Nevada win at New Mexico on Sunday will then clinch the title outright for Fresno State as the 'Dogs will be 22-8 in the MW and both the Lobos and Wolf Pack will each be 18-9 with three games remaining for each team.

Notes
- It is the sixth time in the Batesole era that the 'Dogs have won 35 games joining 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.
- The 'Dogs clinched their ninth MW series win in 10 series.
- Fresno State is now 11-1 vs. UNLV over the last two seasons.
- Lambert is the first Bulldog to start 10-0 since Greg Gonzalez started 11-0 in 2011.
- It was Lambert's seventh start of at least seven innings this season as well as his seventh start with at least five strikeouts.
- It was Viers' 18th career home run as he moved into 29th-place all-time in program history joining Aaron Judge, Brad Harper, Craig Da Luz, Cal Cain and Russ Hall.
- It was Stone's MW-leading seventh sacrifice fly.
- It was the 27th time the 'Dogs have had double digit hits as team. Fresno State is 20-7 in such games.

Mountain West Saturday Scoreboard
Air Force 5, at San Diego State 2 (7) - makeup of March 20 game
at San Diego State 8, Air Force 5
at Long Beach State 2, San Jose State 0
Nevada 17, at New Mexico 11

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