‘Dogs beat Saint Mary’s and Georgia State on day two in Hawaii

Friday, February 8

Honolulu, Hawaii

11 A.M. PT

Fresno State

2-1

Saint Mary's

1-1

St. Mary's

Fresno State

‘Dogs beat Saint Mary’s and Georgia State on day two in Hawaii

2/8/2019 6:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Highlights vs. Saint Mary's Highlights vs. Georgia State Postgame interview: Coach Garza Postgame Interview: Vanessa Hernandez Postgame Interview: Hailey Dolcini

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

HONOLULU – Fresno State swept through its two games on the second day of the Hawaii Paradise Classic, rallying from down 3-0 for a 4-3 win over Saint Mary's before recording a 10-1 rout of Georgia State on Saturday in Honolulu.

Fresno State (3-1) got strong pitching from its trio of aces and the bats came alive in game two. In the opener, Danielle East threw three scoreless innings of three-hit relief to earn her second win of the season and in the finale sophomore transfer Hailey Dolcini had Fresno State's first complete game of the season as she allowed just four hits and one run with seven strikeouts against Georgia State.

Hayleigh Galvan had a game-tying two run single against Saint Mary's and went 2-for-5 with a 3-run home run against Georgia State. Vanessa Hernandez was 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer and three RBIs against the Panthers while McKenzie Wilson and Rachel Minogue also had multi-hit lines in game two.

How it Happened – vs. Saint Mary's
Freshman Danielle Lung made her first career start and retired the first six batters she faced without allowing a hit until the fourth inning. In the fourth, she issued a walk and hit a batter and Jaymee Campbell drove in Nikki Alexander with a two-out RBI single to five the Gaels the lead. The Bulldogs drew four walks and had three singles through the first four innings but could not push across a run.

Saint Mary's began the fifth inning with a walk, wild pitch, and RBI double from Dylan Linton to move ahead 2-0. The Gaels scored another run with two away as Hannah Chew drove in Linton from third with a single to left, but East was able to end the inning with the 'Dogs down just 3-0.

The Bulldogs rallied with four runs in the home half, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and scoring a run when Miranda Rohleder battled for an 8-pitch walk to bring in the runner from third. The Gaels got an out on a fielder's choice but Galvan hit a hard hopper to the left side that hit off the chest of the Saint Mary's shortstop and into center field for a 2-run single. Pinch runner Julianna Martinez then stole second base and an errant pick-off throw to third by the SMC catcher went into left field and allowed Wilson to come in from third with the go-ahead run.

Saint Mary's had a pair of singles in the top of the sixth but, with two on and one out, Wilson caught a foul ball in right and her throw in deflected off the glove of shortstop Vanessa M. Hernandez. Saint Mary's tried to send in a runner from third but left fielder Kaitlyn Jennings picked up the loose ball and threw out the runner at the plate for a very unconventional 9-6-7-2 double play to end the inning.

The Gaels got the tying run aboard with one out in the 7^th on a hit batter but East got Alexander to pop out on the infield and struck out Chew after a 7-pitch battle to end the game.

How it Happened – vs. Georgia State
The Bulldogs jumped to a quick lead with a pair of two-out runs in the top of the first. Wilson stood at third with two away before Minogue brought her in with a line single up the middle. Minogue advanced to second on an error by the Georgia State center fielder and Hernandez followed with an RBI single to give the 'Dogs a 2-0 lead.

Georgia State got its lone run in the bottom of the third when Jess Neadow hit a one-out solo home run. The Panthers had two more singles in the inning but could not add on, and the 'Dogs got that run back in the fourth as they loaded the bases with one out and scored when Aaliyah Cuevas alertly tagged up and scored on a foul out to the third baseman off the bat of Rohleder.

In the top of the fifth, Minogue battled for a one-out walk and Hernandez followed with a long homer run to center field. Galvan hit her mammoth home run in the sixth inning as Rohleder had a lead off bunt single and Wilson singled to right before the 3-run blast. In the top of the seventh inning, Rohleder scored on a Wilson single and, two batters later, pinch runner Madison Wallace scored on a Georgia State throwing error.

Meanwhile, Dolcini did not allow a hit over her last four innings of work. The Panthers had just two base runners on a pair of walks over the last four innings as Dolcini earned her first win as a Bulldog with the team's first complete game of the year.

Notable

Fresno State played Georgia State for just the third time and the first meeting since 1998. The last time the 'Dogs beat the Panthers, a 9-0 win in 1998, Fresno State went on to win the national championship. The Bulldogs have outscored Georgia State 31-1 in the three meetings.
The Bulldogs have won five consecutive meetings with Saint Mary's, including three wins in the last two seasons, and improved to 19-3 all-time against the Gaels.
As a team the 'Dogs hit .352 with a .471 on-base percentage and the pitchers tallied a 2.00 ERA and a .188 opposing batting average with 13 strikeouts in the two games on Saturday.
The 'Dogs hit multiple home runs in a game for the first time this year after doing so 14 times last year.
Against Georgia State the Bulldogs had 21 at-bats with runners on base, hitting 7-for-21 (.333). The 'Dogs' leadoff hitter reached in five of the seven innings.
Lung tallied five strikeouts while allowing two hits and two walks in four innings against Saint Mary's.
East was the pitcher of record in each of the first three Bulldog games of the season.

Up Next
Fresno State wraps up the Hawaii Paradise Classic playing the host Hawaii Rainbow Wahine on Saturday night. The scheduled game time is 5 p.m. HT/7 p.m. PT but it will likely start later than that as it will be the last of five tournament games to be played on the day.

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