Bulldogs open 12-game homestand hosting Fresno State Invitational

Friday, March 9

Fresno, Calif.

5:30 PM

Fresno State

Cleveland State

Bulldogs open 12-game homestand hosting Fresno State Invitational

3/7/2018 2:18:00 PM | Softball

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

Fresno State hosts Fresno State Invitational (Margie Wright Diamond)
vs. Cleveland State • March 9, 2018 • 5:30 PM
    Watch: FloSoftball ($) • Radio: 790 ESPN2 • Live Stats: Sidearm
vs. UC Santa Barbara • March 9, 2018 • 8:00 PM
    Watch: FloSoftball ($) • Radio: 790 ESPN2 • Live Stats: Sidearm
vs. #17 California • March 10, 2018 • 5:00 PM
    Watch: FloSoftball ($) • Radio: 790 ESPN2 • Live Stats: Sidearm
vs. Monmouth • March 10, 2018 • 7:30 PM
    Watch: FloSoftball ($) • Radio: 790 ESPN2 • Live Stats: Sidearm
vs. UC Santa Barbara • March 11, 2018 • 2:30 PM
    Watch: FloSoftball ($) • Radio: 790 ESPN2 • Live Stats: Sidearm

Tournament Central (Complete Schedule)
Complete Fresno State Weekly Notes (PDF)

Promotions
Friday, March 9th

Strike Out Cancer Weekend
Youth Jersey Friday
All kids (8^th grade and under) get in FREE with a jersey!

Saturday, March 10th

Salute to Service Saturdays
All active military and veterans receive FREE admission with ID
Help us honor and thank the brave men and women who sacrificed so much!

Sunday, March 11th

Help us spotlight some great local cancer organizations whose tireless work effects so many right here in our community
Show your support, wear pink for FREE admission!
All kids (8^th grade and under) get in FREE with a jersey!
Post-game all JR Bulldogs are invited to come run the bases!

• Fresno State plays its next 12 games at home starting with the Fresno State Invitational. The tournament will have 13 total games with five on Friday, five on Saturday, and three on Sunday.
• Every game of the Fresno State Invitational will be live streamed on FloSoftball ($). Every Fresno State game will be also be broadcasted live on 790 AM ESPN2 in Fresno with Matt Norville providing the play-by-play call.

Scouting the Fresno State Invitational

• Cleveland State, at 8-6, has already matched its win total from last season when it finished 8-44. The 2018 Vikings have a significantly improved pitching staff, which has tallied a 3.31 ERA thus far after finishing at 5.76 last year. Cleveland State, which has used eight pitchers this year, ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Tennessee State in its last game but hasn't played since Feb. 25. Macy Kaisk leads the team hitting .400 with 8 RBIs and a .488 OBP.

• UC Santa Barbara will be the fifth Big West team the 'Dogs have played this year. The Gauchos were picked 7th in Big West preseason poll and are 8-12 this year after losing five of their last six games but host Florida Gulf Coast for a doubleheader on Wednesday. UCSB is hitting .293 as a team with six starters hitting better than .300. The team played at the first Mary Nutter Classic and lost to UCLA, Cal, and Loyola Marymount, who the Bulldogs beat 5-2 last week.

• California was unranked to start the season and only picked seventh in the Pac-12 preseason poll but has moved to as high as No. 15 in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Bears began the year 12-0 and were 17-1 before dropping two of their last three games. Cal has used just two pitchers this season, with former Bulldog Kamalani Dung 10-0 with a 1.51 ERA and .182 opposing batting average. The Bears are hitting .309 scoring 5.5 runs per game with a 1.64 ERA.

• Monmouth has only played eight games this season, starting the year 4-4. The Hawks were picked to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) preseason poll and are a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen bases. Monmouth started 4-2 with a win over Syracuse but dropped its last two games last Sunday. Katie Baron and Sam Tomasetti are both hitting better than .400 while Baron has hit three home runs. Monmouth is hitting .273 as a team.

They've Got the Power
• Fresno State leads the Mountain West and is tied for 18th in NCAA Div. I with 21 home runs this season.
• The Bulldogs have hit at least one home run in seven of their last eight games and have hit multiple homers in six games this year.
• Savannah McHellon is tied for the MW lead with six home runs as seven 'Dogs have homered and five have hit multiple home runs.

Taking Several for the Team
• The Bulldogs have been hit by a pitch 27 times this season, more than double the second highest total in the MW (Colorado State - 13).
• Fresno State hitters have recorded at least one hit-by-pitch in 12 games this season and have been hit multiple times in nine games with a season-high five hit-by-pitches vs. Loyola Marymount.
• Hayleigh Galvan and Emily Brodner are tied for the Mountain West lead with six hit-by-pitches

Happy to be Home
• Fresno State plays its next 12 games at home to end the pre-conference portion of its schedule and open MW play.
• In five home games this year the 'Dogs are 4-1, having outscored the opposition 28-10 while hitting .276 and holding opponents to a .210 batting average with a 1.48 team ERA.

Walk-Offs
• Savannah McHellon's walk-off home run against Cal Poly marked the fourth time this season that the Bulldogs won a game in walk-off fashion, the first three of which came in succession.
• Katie Castellon also hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh in the win over Notre Dame as the 'Dogs have two walk off wins in tied games.
• The other two walk-offs came when the 'Dogs ended a win via the 8-run rule. Schuylar Broussard hit a 3-run homer to end a 13-4 win in 6 innings over Purdue and Castellon gave the 'Dogs an 8-0 win over CSU Bakersfield in five innings with an RBI single.

Non-Conference Non-Easy
• Fresno State has faced five ranks teams in non-conference play with a sixth ranked opponent (No. 17 California) this weekend.
• The 'Dogs have played four of the top nine teams in the current NFCA/USA Today coaches poll. In terms of opponent winning percentage the Bulldogs have played the second toughest schedule among MW teams, behind only San Diego State.

.800 On-Base Weekend
• Junior left fielder Kaitlyn Jennings reached base in eight of her 10 plate appearances over four games at the Judi Garman Classic.
• Hitting in the No. 9 spot, Jennings was 2-for-4 in official at-bats with four walks and two hit by pitches. She was also 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
• Jennings had her first career multi-hit game on Sunday with two singles against No. 18 Louisiana.

Super Support
• The red wave averaged 1,229 fans per game for the Bulldog Classic, giving Fresno State the 8th highest attendance average in all of NCAA Div. I so far this season.
• Last season Fresno State led the MW and ranked 13th in NCAA Div. I averaging 1,101 fans per game. The 'Dogs drew more fans than any other team in California last year and have averaged more than 1,000 fans per game for 25 consecutive seasons.

Home Run Streaking
• Hayleigh Galvan homered in four straight completed games in the last two tournaments.
• Galvan hit a 3-run home run against BYU followed by solo shots against No. 3 UCLA and CSUN. She also homered against Loyola Marymount in the first completed game the Bulldogs played at the Judi Garman Classic, but because the suspended Cal Poly game is officially listed as taking place on Friday the streak officially ended at three games.
• Galvan also leads the team with a .473 on-base percentage this year, her first as a Bulldog after transferring from Oklahoma State.

Doubling Up
• Fresno State is third in the MW with 10 double plays turned and has hit into only two double plays this season.
• The 'Dogs turned a pair of double plays in consecutive games against Wisconsin and No. 3 LSU.

Strikeout Stuff
• The Bulldog pitching staff ranks third in the Mountain West with 103 strikeouts this season.
• The 'Dogs have tallied multiple strikeouts in all but two games this year with a season-high 11 K's against Notre Dame. Danielle East is third in the MW with 46 strikeouts while Tiffany Kennedy-Cummings and Samantha Mejia each have 25.

Triple Time
• Sophomore Miranda Rohleder had four triples over the last three Fresno State games in the Bulldog Classic, including a two-triple game against Pacific.
• Rohleder is tied for fourth in NCAA Div. I as only three players have more than four triples this year. Her four triples are as many as all but one other Mountain West squad has as a team.

Irregular Innings
• The standard length of a softball game is seven innings, but the Bulldogs did not play a seven-inning game until their fifth contest of the season.
• Through 19 games this season Fresno State has played just 10 that were completed in seven innings. The team has played five 5-inning games, two 6-inning games, and two 8-inning games.

Into the Polls
• The Bulldogs appeared in the national rankings on Feb. 20 as D1softballnews.com chose Fresno State as the No. 25 team in the nation.
• Fresno State earned votes in the 2018 preseason USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll as well as in the first edition of the season.
• The Bulldogs have been ranked in the top-25 in the coaches' poll, one of two polls officially recognized by the NCAA along with the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, in each of the last two seasons, reaching No. 17 in 2016 and No. 21 in 2017.

Powered Down
• Fresno State opened the 2018 season with three wins over Power-5 schools at the Kajikawa Classic. The 'Dogs took down Stanford, Purdue, and Notre Dame, earning wins against the Pac-12, Big 10, and ACC schools, respectively.
• The Bulldogs tallied three Power-5 wins at the Kajikawa Classic for the third consecutive season, beating both Purdue and Stanford at the tournament for the second straight year.
• Fresno State had seven total wins over Power-5 schools last season and has four more games vs. Power-5 teams still to come this year.

On Base a Lot
• Coach Linda Garza and her staff focus heavily on on-base percentage and the team has five starters reaching base at better than a .380 clip so far this season.
• Hayleigh Galvan leads the team with a .473 on-base percentage while Savannah McHellon is at .468 and has reached base in nine straight games.
• As a team the Bulldogs rank fifth in the MW with a .375 OBP after tallying a .373 mark at the end of the 2017 season.