'Dogs come up short against Hawai'i

Sunday, February 27

San Diego, CA (SDSU)

10 A.M. PT

Fresno State

3-4

Hawai'i

3-4

Hawaii

Fresno State

Photo by: Kayla Barber

'Dogs come up short against Hawai'i

2/27/2022 3:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

SAN DIEGO - With the tying run coming to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, the Diamond 'Dogs came up short on Sunday afternoon falling to Hawai'i, 8-4 in the final game of the Tony Gwynn Legacy at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

Fresno State (3-4) loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the Bulldogs comeback bid.

Outhitting Hawai'i (3-4) 12-11 on the afternoon, sophomore infielder Ben Newton had a breakout game with a career-high three hits and added an RBI, run scored and walk.

Zach Morgan and Ivan Luna each had two base hits apiece and Payton Allen came off the bench to pinch-hit in the seventh and delivered an RBI double.

On the mound, senior lefty Nikoh Mitchell worked the opening 2.1 innings before giving way to Tommy Hopfe who tossed a career-best 3.2 innings and struck out three.

Roman Angelo made his third appearance of the season working the final three innings allowing one run and struck out a pair.

How It Happened
Taking their first lead of the weekend, the 'Dogs got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single through the right side by Mason Grotto.

The Rainbow Warriors answered back with four runs in the second inning tallying a solo home run, a bases-loaded hit by pitch, a sacrifice fly and an RBI single.

The 'Dogs cut UH's lead to 4-2 with a sacrifice fly to right-center by Andrew Kachel and after the 'Bows added three more runs in the third, the 'Dogs tacked on a third run on Newton's RBI single to left field that drove in Luna from second.

With no runs in the fourth, fifth or sixth innings, the 'Dogs made it 7-4 on Allen's double to left-center in the seventh. A two-out walk in the eighth by Angelo was followed by an RBI double by UH's Matt Wong, but a strong relay from Nate Thimjon in right field to Newton at second found Kachel at third catching up to Wong attempting to turn it into a triple.

Opening the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back walks to Grotto and Thimjon, a one-out single by Newton loaded the bases, but strikeouts by pinch-hitters Blake Wink and Matt Ottino closed the contest.

Up next
The 'Dogs open the month of March on Tuesday visiting CSU Bakersfield (3-3).

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