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Fresno State Athletics
Saturday, April 10
Fresno, CA
1:35 P.M. PT
Fresno State
8-14, 5-8
8
vs
3
Air Force
12-10, 6-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Air Force
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
3
7
2
Fresno State
0
0
0
0
4
1
3
0
X
8
7
0
'Dogs sweep DH over Falcons on historic day
4/10/2021 9:30:00 PM | Baseball
FRESNO, Calif. - The Diamond 'Dogs swept a doubleheader over Air Force on Saturday at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium on their way to helping head coach Mike Batesole secure his 600th and 601st career wins at Fresno State.
Fresno State (9-14, 6-8 MW) took game one, 8-3 before winning game two, 7-1 to improve to 7-3 at home this season.
With a win in the first game, Fresno State becomes the first program in college baseball history with three consecutive head coaches with 600 or more wins at that school as Coach Batesole joins Pete Beiden and Bob Bennett in the 600-win club. The trio of coaches have been at Fresno State over the past 74 seasons spanning 1948 to 2021.
It did not take long for Batesole to hit another milestone on Saturday moving into a tie for second in program history in wins with 601 getting a victory in game two to join Pete Beiden who posted 601 victories from 1948-69.
The Bulldogs totaled 15 runs and 17 hits on Saturday getting a grand slam from Ryan Higgins and a three-run home run from Andrew Kachel in game one followed by a well-balanced attack in game two that saw EJ Andrews, Jr., Kachel, Dylan Johnson and Matt Ottino all finish with two hits apiece.
On the mound, Jamison Hill and Jake Dixon each earned their third wins of the season as the duo each both had quality starts. Hill went 6.0 innings allowing five hits, two runs and struck out a season-high seven while walking none in game one. Freshman southpaw Ixan Henderson earned his first career save throwing the final three innings allowing two hits, one run and struck out five.
Dixon continued the 'Dogs dominance on the mound in game two tossing a career-high 8.0 innings while limiting the Falcons to three hits, all singles, and struck out a career-best seven. Freshman Treven Crowley finished off the game in the ninth striking out one.
How It Happened
The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game one with RBI singles by center fielder Cayden Zimmerman in the third and fifth innings.
The Bulldogs answered back in the bottom of the fifth with Higgins' grand slam taking advantage of an Air Force (12-11, 6-8 MW) error that would have ended the inning. A walk to Andrews, Jr. loaded the bases for Higgins who sent his fifth home run of the season to left field to give the 'Dogs a 4-2 lead.
A sacrifce fly by Zach Morgan in the sixth moved the 'Dogs lead to 5-2 and after one run by the Falcons in the seventh on a fielder's choice, Kachel put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the bottom of the frame for a 8-3 lead. Henderson retired the final six Falcons he faced.
The nightcap saw Dixon escape a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, getting a fantastic defensive play from Andrews, Jr. in center field, only for the 'Dogs to put up five runs in the bottom of the frame in support of their starter.
Johnson got the scoring started with a two-run RBI single back up the middle (watch) and back-to-back bases-loaded walks by Ottino and pinch-hitter Ivan Luna put the 'Dogs up 4-0. The scoring was completed on an RBI single by Andrews. Jr. (watch).
An RBI bunt single from Ottino (watch) in the fifth gave the 'Dogs a 6-0 lead and an RBI double by Vinny Bologna (watch) in the sixth pushed it to 7-0.
The Falcons broke up the shutout bid in the ninth with a solo home run from Braydon Altorfer and loaded the bases with no outs before Crowley escaped the jam with two flyouts and a strikeout.
Quotes
Head Coach Mike Batesole
On reaching 600 wins at Fresno State...
"This is not 600 wins for me, this is 600 more wins for Fresno State Baseball. That is the good news, we have always talked about how it takes everybody, our administration, not just now, but going back to Scott Johnson and Dr. Welty, the ones that hired us here and we have done our best to keep this thing going. Our local community, our alumni is off the charts, the Dugout Club is awesome and our assistant coaches and how about the players, you have to have some pretty dang good players to get that many wins all three of us coaches (Beiden and Bennett)."
On nurturing a culture of unselfishness...
"It is real. When you play this game, it is a lot like life and the more you give, it is amazing 100-fold how much it comes back to you. When you are a taker, you almost get nothing and that is hard for kids to really buy into that, but once you buy in and put the team first and when you do that it is amazing how it comes back to you and we got to that today. We played Bulldog baseball today."
Up next
The Bulldogs and Falcons close out their series on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Follow us on:
Twitter: @FresnoStateBSB
Instagram: fresnostbaseball
Facebook: FresnoStateAthletics
Fresno State (9-14, 6-8 MW) took game one, 8-3 before winning game two, 7-1 to improve to 7-3 at home this season.
With a win in the first game, Fresno State becomes the first program in college baseball history with three consecutive head coaches with 600 or more wins at that school as Coach Batesole joins Pete Beiden and Bob Bennett in the 600-win club. The trio of coaches have been at Fresno State over the past 74 seasons spanning 1948 to 2021.
It did not take long for Batesole to hit another milestone on Saturday moving into a tie for second in program history in wins with 601 getting a victory in game two to join Pete Beiden who posted 601 victories from 1948-69.
The Bulldogs totaled 15 runs and 17 hits on Saturday getting a grand slam from Ryan Higgins and a three-run home run from Andrew Kachel in game one followed by a well-balanced attack in game two that saw EJ Andrews, Jr., Kachel, Dylan Johnson and Matt Ottino all finish with two hits apiece.
On the mound, Jamison Hill and Jake Dixon each earned their third wins of the season as the duo each both had quality starts. Hill went 6.0 innings allowing five hits, two runs and struck out a season-high seven while walking none in game one. Freshman southpaw Ixan Henderson earned his first career save throwing the final three innings allowing two hits, one run and struck out five.
Dixon continued the 'Dogs dominance on the mound in game two tossing a career-high 8.0 innings while limiting the Falcons to three hits, all singles, and struck out a career-best seven. Freshman Treven Crowley finished off the game in the ninth striking out one.
How It Happened
The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game one with RBI singles by center fielder Cayden Zimmerman in the third and fifth innings.
The Bulldogs answered back in the bottom of the fifth with Higgins' grand slam taking advantage of an Air Force (12-11, 6-8 MW) error that would have ended the inning. A walk to Andrews, Jr. loaded the bases for Higgins who sent his fifth home run of the season to left field to give the 'Dogs a 4-2 lead.
A sacrifce fly by Zach Morgan in the sixth moved the 'Dogs lead to 5-2 and after one run by the Falcons in the seventh on a fielder's choice, Kachel put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the bottom of the frame for a 8-3 lead. Henderson retired the final six Falcons he faced.
The nightcap saw Dixon escape a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, getting a fantastic defensive play from Andrews, Jr. in center field, only for the 'Dogs to put up five runs in the bottom of the frame in support of their starter.
Johnson got the scoring started with a two-run RBI single back up the middle (watch) and back-to-back bases-loaded walks by Ottino and pinch-hitter Ivan Luna put the 'Dogs up 4-0. The scoring was completed on an RBI single by Andrews. Jr. (watch).
An RBI bunt single from Ottino (watch) in the fifth gave the 'Dogs a 6-0 lead and an RBI double by Vinny Bologna (watch) in the sixth pushed it to 7-0.
The Falcons broke up the shutout bid in the ninth with a solo home run from Braydon Altorfer and loaded the bases with no outs before Crowley escaped the jam with two flyouts and a strikeout.
Quotes
Head Coach Mike Batesole
On reaching 600 wins at Fresno State...
"This is not 600 wins for me, this is 600 more wins for Fresno State Baseball. That is the good news, we have always talked about how it takes everybody, our administration, not just now, but going back to Scott Johnson and Dr. Welty, the ones that hired us here and we have done our best to keep this thing going. Our local community, our alumni is off the charts, the Dugout Club is awesome and our assistant coaches and how about the players, you have to have some pretty dang good players to get that many wins all three of us coaches (Beiden and Bennett)."
On nurturing a culture of unselfishness...
"It is real. When you play this game, it is a lot like life and the more you give, it is amazing 100-fold how much it comes back to you. When you are a taker, you almost get nothing and that is hard for kids to really buy into that, but once you buy in and put the team first and when you do that it is amazing how it comes back to you and we got to that today. We played Bulldog baseball today."
Up next
The Bulldogs and Falcons close out their series on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Twitter: @FresnoStateBSB
Instagram: fresnostbaseball
Facebook: FresnoStateAthletics
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hill, Jamison (3-1)
L: BYRNES, John (1-3)
S: Henderson, Ixan (1)
Batting:
2B: GAMBALE, Christian 1
3B: PUP, Alexander 1
RBI: COVIN, Blake 1 ; ZIMMERMAN, Cayden 2
Base Running:
RUNS: ALTORFER, Braydon 1 ; GAMBALE, Christian 1 ; PUP, Alexander 1
SB: COVIN, Blake 1
HBP: SKENES, Paul 1
Batting:
2B: Higgins, Ryan 1
HR: Higgins, Ryan 1 ; Kachel, Andrew 1
RBI: Higgins, Ryan 4 ; Kachel, Andrew 3 ; Morgan, Zach 1
SH: Thimjon, Nate 1
SF: Morgan, Zach 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Andrews, Jr., EJ 2 ; Higgins, Ryan 2 ; Kachel, Andrew 1 ; Bologna, Vinny 1 ; Morgan, Zach 1 ; Jamison, Jeff 1
SB: Andrews, Jr., EJ 1
CS: Morgan, Zach 1
HBP: Bologna, Vinny 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Outfield
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Outfield
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Pitcher
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Pitcher
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Pitcher
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Infield
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Pitcher
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Outfield
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Infield
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Catcher
/ Baseball
Infield
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