Newton pushes 'Dogs past Dons, 7-5

Wednesday, March 1

Fresno, CA

6:05 P.M. PT

Fresno State

5-3

San Francisco

3-2

San Francisco

Fresno State

Photo by: Xochitl Ortega

Newton pushes 'Dogs past Dons, 7-5

3/1/2023 10:30:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

FRESNO, Calif. - Using a two-run RBI double down the left field line in the eighth inning by Ben Newton, the Diamond 'Dogs won a back-and-forth contest, 7-5 over San Francisco on Wednesday evening at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.

Fresno State (5-3) finished with nine hits, three for extra bases, and scored runs in five of its eight turns at the plate.

The 'Dogs were led by a three-hit performance from Tommy Hopfe, who notched his second triple of the season, and added an RBI.

Nikoh Mitchell tallied a pair of base knocks, drew a pair of walks and scored two runs.

On the pitching side, junior left-hander Bryce Armstrong made his first start as a Bulldog tossing 1.2 innings before giving way to seven relief pitchers.

Trevor Garcia earned his first win of 2023 after a scoreless top of the eighth and Tommy Hopfe came on for his second save of the season in the ninth.

How It Happened
After the teams each got on the board with one run apiece in the first inning, the Dons went up 3-1 with a pair of RBI singles in the top of the second.

The 'Dogs answered back in the bottom of the half inning with an RBI single from Jaden Sheppard to cut the USF lead to 3-2.

A two-run bottom of the fourth for the 'Dogs put Fresno State back up 4-3 after Murf Gray scored on a wild pitch and Michael McKernan came home to score a sacrifice fly by Newton.

Two runs for the Dons in the sixth pushed San Francisco back in front, 5-4 getting a pair of runs on an RBI single.

Retired in order in the sixth, the 'Dogs knotted the game at five apiece in the seventh on an RBI triple to center by Hopfe.

A hit by pitch and a fielding error by USF put a pair of 'Dogs on base for Newton in the eighth as the junior second baseman came through a double driving in Marco Pirruccello and Travis Welker for the go-ahead runs.

Hopfe stranded a pair of Dons on the base paths in the ninth to give the 'Dogs their fourth straight win in Fresno over USF.

Up next
The Bulldogs head out on the road to open Mountain West play at San Jose State (2-4) this weekend at Excite Ballpark.

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