Bulldogs close regular season at Nevada with MW title hopes alive

Thursday, May 10

Reno, Nev.

4:00 PM

Fresno State

Nevada

Bulldogs close regular season at Nevada with MW title hopes alive

5/9/2018 11:57:00 AM | Softball

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

Fresno State (30-21, 13-8 MW) at Nevada (23-24, 10-11 MW)
May 10-12, 2018 | Reno, Nev. | Christina M. Hixson Softball Park (1,000)
First Pitch: Thu: 4:00 p.m., Fri: 4:00 p.m., Sat: 12:00 p.m.
Watch: Mountain West Network
Radio: None
Live Stats: Thursday | Friday | Saturday
Series History: Fresno State leads 46-17
Streak: Nevada Won 2

Complete Series Notes (PDF) - Fresno State | Nevada

Bulldog Bones
• Nevada kept Fresno State's MW title hopes alive with a 9-4 win over San Jose State on Tuesday. The 'Dogs now need to sweep the Wolf Pack and have Boise State lose twice to finish in first place.
• The Bulldogs are 6-3 in road MW games with a three-game road sweep of San Jose State. In road league games the team has hit .304 with a 2.29 ERA and has outscored its opposition 52-22.
• Samantha Mejia and Danielle East rank 1st and 3rd in the MW, respectively, in ERA in MW games. Mejia has a 1.63 ERA and a 5-2 record in league while East is 8-5 with a 2.45 ERA and 87 strikeouts.
• Fresno State ranks in the top-35 in NCAA Div. I in hit-by-pitches (2nd-66), on-base pct (7th-.409), double plays (T7th-30), triples (T15th-16), doubles (T30th-72), and slugging pct (32nd-.469).
• Senior Katie Castellon leads NCAA Div. I with 18 sacrifice bunts and, in MW play, she ranks fourth in the league with a .717 slugging percentage and leads the 'Dogs hitting .383 with 12 extra-base hits.

Scouting Nevada (23-24, 10-11 MW)
• After its 9-4 win over San Jose State on Tuesday, Nevada ranks second in the MW and 17th in NCAA Div. I in both batting average (.313) and run scored per game (6.04) for the season.
• Nevada is 6-6 overall at home and 4-5 in Mountain West home games this year. The squad has won three straight games and four of its last five contests after a five-game losing streak.
• The Wolf Pack have six starters hitting better than .300 this year and four hitting over .300 in MW games. Nevada has averaged 6.67 runs in MW games while allowing 5.62 runs per game.
• Erika Hansen is tied with Savannah McHellon for the MW lead with 13 HR while she leads the league with a .762 slugging percentage, is third with 49 RBIs, and is hitting .392 overall.
• Amanda Geil is 4-2 with a 2.57 ERA in MW play while Julia Jensen leads the team in innings pitched and is 3-4 with a 5.70 ERA in MW games. Nevada's 4.17 MW ERA ranks sixth in the league.
• The 'Dogs won seven straight games over Nevada before the Pack won the last two last year.

'Dogs Still Alive
• Thanks to a 9-4 win by Nevada over San Jose State in a makeup game on Tuesday the Bulldogs are still in contention for a Mountain West title entering the final series of the year.
• San Jose State ended its season with a 16-8 MW record while Fresno State is 13-8 and Boise State is 15-6 with both teams having three games left to play. To claim a MW title and earn an automatic NCAA bid based on tiebreakers, the Bulldogs need to win all three games at Nevada AND Boise State will need to lose at least two games in its home series against New Mexico.
• Fresno State has swept a three-game series with Nevada before, in Fresno in 2015.

Senior Moment
• Fresno State honored its five seniors in a ceremony prior to first pitch of the last home game of the season last Sunday.
• Katie Castellon, Brooke Coates, and Chase LeeHong have been four-year Bulldogs while Savannah McHellon and Sarah Santana were transfers that joined the program as juniors.
• All five seniors helped the team reach the NCAA Regionals last year while Castellon, Coates, and LeeHong were also part of the 2015 and 2016 MW champion and NCAA Regional teams.

30 for 37
• With their win on April 29 at Boise State the Bulldogs have a 30-win season for the 37th consecutive year. The 'Dogs have also clinched an overall winning record in 2018, something that the program has achieved in all 41 years of its existence.
• The Bulldogs are looking to qualify for the NCAA Regionals for the fourth straight year and the 31st time in the last 34 seasons.
• In its storied history Fresno State has won 23 conference titles, 59 NCAA Regional games, and 93 total postseason games, reaching the Women's College World Series 12 times with four runner-up finishes and winning the 1998 NCAA title.

Doing it All
• Hitting second in the lineup, Katie Castellon leads NCAA Div. I lead with 18 sacrifice bunts this season.
• When she doesn't bunt she's been tearing the cover off the ball as, in MW play, she ranks fourth in the league with a .717 slugging percentage and leads the 'Dogs hitting .383. She has three homers, two triples, and seven doubles with 17 RBIs in 21 league games.
• Castellon has had at least one hit, walk, hbp, and/or sacrifice in all but one MW game and in 44 of the 51 total games this year.

Dominant Duo
• In MW play LHP Danielle East and RHP Samantha Mejia have confounded hitters from both arms as the pair has combined for a 2.16 ERA over 120.0 innings pitched.
• The two are a combined 13-7 in MW games and have 109 total strikeouts and four shutouts. Mejia leads the league with a 1.63 ERA in conference while East is third at 2.45.

Super Support
• The red wave averaged 1,071 fans per game this season, the most among all 20 NCAA Div. I schools in California and the 15th highest attendance average in the nation. The 'Dogs total attendance of 27,853 fans is 13th most in the Div. I.
• Fresno State has now averaged more than 1,000 fans per game for 26 consecutive seasons. The Bulldogs had 17 home games with 1,000 or more fans while playing just one total road game with a crowd of 1,000 or more.
• No other MW team has averaged more than 520 fans, less than half of the 'Dogs average.

On Base a Lot
• As a team the Bulldogs rank seventh in NCAA Div. I with a .409 on-base percentage. The Dogs have a .416 OBP in league games after having a .399 on-base percent in non-conference play.
• Hayleigh Galvan is second in the MW and is 31st in Div. I with a .512 on-base percentage this year while five other Bulldog starters have an on-base percentage above .400.

Four Awards
• The Fresno State softball team received four awards at the Night of Champions celebration on Monday honoring all Bulldog teams for achievements during the academic year.
• As a team the 'Dogs earned the Community Service Award while Kaitlyn Jennings received the Paul Schecter Courage Award, Hayleigh Galvan was the George Ilg Newcomer Award winner, and Danielle East earned the Harold Haak Memorable Moment for her 15 strikeout no-hitter at New Mexico.
• Katie Castellon was also a finalist for Bulldog of the Year.

Taking Several for the Team
• Fresno State batters rank second in NCAA Div. I with 66 hit-by-pitches this season, trailing only South Carolina (74 HBP). No other MW team has been hit more than 31 times.
• The 'Dogs broke the MW single season hit-by-pitch record on March 31, just 34 games into the season, topping the previous record of 47 set last year by San Jose State.
• Schuylar Broussard, Katie Castellon, and Hayleigh Galvan have all been hit 11 times, tied for sixth most in a season in program history.

In the Polls
• Fresno State earned votes in the April 24 USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. The 'Dogs were the 10th team receiving votes, making the team essentially ranked No. 35 in the nation.
• The Bulldogs have received votes in the Coaches Poll in three weeks this season and appeared in the national rankings on Feb. 20 as D1softballnews.com chose Fresno State as the No. 25 team in the nation.

Gone Streaking
• Fresno State had a 10-game winning streak March 30 - April 15 that included eight straight MW wins.
• The 10-game winning streak was the longest recorded by the Bulldogs since a program-record 23-game winning streak in 2016.

Samtastic
• In MW play Samantha Mejia is 5-2 with a 1.63 ERA, allowing just 10 earned runs and 35 hits in 43.0 innings with four starts and five relief appearances.
• Mejia has been especially dominant in relief in MW play as she has thrown 18.0 scoreless innings and is 3-0 allowing just seven hits with 13 strikeouts.

Galvan-izing the Offense
• Sophomore Hayleigh Galvan reached base in 20 consecutive games and had an 18-game hitting streak, the fifth-longest streak in program history.
• Galvan is second in the MW and ranks 31st in NCAA Div. I with a .512 on-base percentage this season while also leading the team in batting average (.377) and ranking second in home runs (8) and RBIs (36).

Doubling Up
• Fresno State leads the MW and is tied for seventh in NCAA Div. I with 30 double plays turned this year. The Bulldogs have also only hit into 12 double plays this season.
• The 'Dogs have turned multiple double plays in five games this season with a season-best three double plays recorded against UNLV last Friday.

On a Rohl
• Sophomore Miranda Rohleder reached base in 18 consecutive games and leads the MW with six triples and 33 walks and is second with 44 runs.
• Rohleder is also tied for ninth in NCAA Div. I with six triples and has 18 stolen bases this year, which is tied for the 8th most in a season in program history.

Home Cooking
• In 26 home games this year the 'Dogs went 17-9, outscoring the opposition 147-89 while hitting .300 with 16 home runs and tallying a 3.03 team ERA.
• The win over Monmouth on Mar. 11 was the 900th home victory in program history. The 'Dogs are 909-239-1 all-time at home over 41 seasons.

East Meets (Mountain) West
• In her first 13 starts against MW opponents, freshman Danielle East is 8-5 with a 2.45 ERA and a .230 opposing batting average.
• East has recorded 87 strikeouts in 77.0 innings pitched against MW batters. She has tallied double-digit strikeouts in five MW games and has three shutouts in conference.
• East's 87 strikeouts in MW games have broken the MW record for freshman strikeouts in league play, which had been 75 by New Mexico's Hayley Punter in 2001. The overall record is 128 and the MW freshman strike out record for all games is 180 (East has 145).

Irregular Innings
• Fresno State has played 20 games this season were not completed in the standard seven innings. The team has played 11 5-inning games, five 6-inning games, three 8-inning games, and one 9-inning game.
• The Bulldogs did not play a seven-inning game until their fifth contest of the season.

Working the Field
• Fresno State ranks second in the MW with a .970 fielding percentage this year.
• The Bulldogs have 24 error-free games this season and have committed multiple errors just seven times over the last 41 games.

High RPI
• In the most recent NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) rankings Fresno State is No. 75, the third highest in the MW behind only No. 49 San Jose State and No. 64 Boise State.
• The RPI rankings reflect quality wins and strength of schedule as the 'Dogs played a very difficult non-conference slate and have wins over highly ranked teams, including a victory over Notre Dame (No. 43) and three wins against the Spartans.

"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.

Follow us on:
Twitter: @FresnoStateSB
Instagram: FresnoStateSoftball
Facebook: FresnoStateSoftball