The Fresno State baseball and softball teams both completed successful weekends on Sunday. The baseball team won two out of three at Cal State Fullerton while the softball team went 4-0 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a win over No. 25 Mississippi State.
The baseball team traveled to Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series to face a Titan program with four NCAA Tournament Championships and coming off their 46th tourney appearance last season. This year’s Cal State Fullerton team entered the series with a 2-1 record after winning a three-game series at Stanford by a combined score of 20-10.
But it was all Bulldogs on Friday. The opening-night matchup was an 8-0 blowout victory for the ‘Dogs. Grady Morgan got the action started with a second-inning home run. Then there were seven more RBI hits from the second to fourth innings by six different Bulldogs. Morgan came up again in the third inning for an RBI-triple and 4-0 lead. Eddie Saldivar hit another RBI-triple in the fourth.
On the mound, Jake Dixon dealt seven innings with only six hits. He struck out seven batters and forced eight ground outs. Victor Arreola closed out the game with two innings, striking out three batters.
The rest of the weekend was neck-and-neck.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on RBI singles from Tyler Davis and Tommy Hopfe. After 12 consecutive scoreless innings to start the series, the Fullerton bats came alive with five combined runs in the fourth and fifth inning. The two innings ended starter Noah Beal’s day.
Jake Riding entered the game and pitched three scoreless innings. And the Bulldogs made it 5-4 in the sixth inning with Saldivar’s RBI-triple and a Murf Gray RBI-single. But the ‘Dogs could not push the tying run across the plate, including a stranded runner at third base in the eighth inning.
Pitching ruled the day in Game 3. For Fresno State, it was Jack Anker pitching seven innings - allowing only three hits and one run. Cal State Fullerton starter Chad Gurnea pitched 5.2 innings with three hits and one run allowed - five more pitchers would allow one run in 3.1 innings.
But that one allowed run by the Titan relief staff would be the go-ahead score by the Bulldogs.
The game-winning hit came from Hopfe with an RBI-single in the eighth inning, driving in Jordan Stransky who hit a lead-off double. Victor Arrealo took the mound and pitched a scoreless eighth inning - Then Hopfe went out onto the mound and earned his second save of the season on the 2-1 win.
Fresno State improves to 4-2 on the season. Up next is the first of 10 Mountain West series. The Bulldogs will host San Diego State for three games - First pitch is Friday at 6:05 p.m. PT, then Saturday at 3:05 p.m. PT and Sunday at 1:05 p.m. PT.
SOFTBALL EARNS TOP 25 WIN
The Fresno State softball team earned the school’s most impressive bat-and-ball win this season by beating a ranked opponent. The Bulldogs knocked off No. 25 Mississippi State in the second of four games against four teams.
Keahilele Mattson opened the Cathedral City (Calif.) event vs Hawaii with a first-pitch solo home run as the second batter to the plate. The Bulldogs crossed two more runners in the opening inning, then Sophia Medellin doubled the score in the second inning with a three-run homer. Medellin also delivered a 2-RBI double in the fifth inning for a five RBI performance. The game ended at 9-0 after just five innings due to the mercy rule. Taylor Gilmore got the win with four scoreless innings.
The Bulldogs took on No. 25 Mississippi State for the marquee game on Saturday night. Once again, it was a first-inning Mattson home run that put Fresno State in front. Juliana Wilson added an RBI-double in the fourth inning for a two-run advantage.
Serayeh Neiss got the start and pitched three scoreless innings before opening the fifth inning with an allowed lead-off single. Taylor Gilmore entered in relief - a ground-out advanced the runner and a single scored them. Gilmore struck out the next five batters faced.
Fresno State added an insurance run in the seventh inning on Bella Rocco’s RBI single. The 25th ranked Mississippi State lineup put runners on second and third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. But Gilmore delivered a sixth strikeout to close out the game.
DOWN GOES #25‼️ pic.twitter.com/zK6ZZmuBLR
— Fresno State Softball (@FresnoStateSB) February 25, 2024
The victory was the softball program’s first ranked win since 2021. Mississippi State entered the weekend at 8-1 overall with a 4-0 record against Top 25 opponents by a combined score of 27-7, including twomercyrule wins and victories over the No. 8 and No. 13 teams.
The Bulldogs did not have a lapse on Sunday either, scoring two more wins for a 4-0 weekend. Fresno State defeated Long Beach State 6-2, led by Alyssa Ramirez's go-ahead two-run homer. Neiss earned the win with 4.1 innings pitched in release.
The ‘Dogs returned for a thriller in their second game of the day. A solo home run by Kennedy Bunker gave Fresno State a 1-0 lead over Cal Poly, which held all the way until the sixth inning.
Cal Poly had just one hit in the first five innings. But the Mustangs opened the sixth inning with a lead-off single. The runner was advanced by a sacrifice bunt - then back-to-back singles drove in two Cal Poly runs.
Suddenly the ‘Dogs faced a 2-1 deficit with only two batting opportunities left. They only needed one, however. Natalie Elias led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a bunt-single and Medellin added another single two batters later. Elias scored the tying run on a wild pitch and Medellin scored the go-ahead run on a Wilson sacrifice fly.
Neiss closed out the 3-1 win by forcing out all three batters in the seventh inning. Neis replaced Gilmore in the sixth inning, who finished with just two hits and one run allowed in 5.0 innings.
In all, it was a 4-0 weekend for the Fresno State softball team, which brings the Bulldogs to a six-game winning streak and 11-4 overall. The record is the program’s best start since 2020 when the team was 21-4 before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended the season.
The softball team next heads to the prestigious Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton next weekend. The Bulldogs will play four games in three days: Weber State on Friday (5:30 p.m. PT), Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday (12:30 p.m. PT, 7:30 p.m. PT respectively) and DePaul on Sunday (11:15 p.m. PT). The Bulldogs' next homegames come on the weekend of March 8 for the Bulldog Classic - facing CSUN, San Diego (twice) and Rutgers.
