“This is what being a Bulldog is all about.”
By Al Scott
For the second straight season, the Diamond ‘Dogs have defeated San Jose State en route to winning the Mountain West Championship, punching their ticket into the NCAA Tournament for the 37th time in program history.
“This is what being a Bulldog is all about,” Head Coach Ryan Overland said after the game.
The Bulldogs rallied behind a career day from lefty Bryce Armstrong and home runs from Eddie Saldivar and Murf Gray to beat the Spartans 9-1.
In Saldivar’s two years at Fresno State after transferring from Long Beach State, he and the Bulldogs won two conference championships.
“Best decision I’ve ever made,” Saldivar said.
It was not all good though, Bulldogs center fielder Sky Collins appeared to break his left ankle while sliding into second base during the bottom of the seventh inning.
“It was a scary moment,” Saldivar said. “He shows up, works hard, he’s pretty much the life of the program. He means everything to us. It was big to get that for him.”
What happened
Armstrong walked Spartans right fielder Alex Fernandes to open the game. The senior wasn’t phased and struck out Rocco Caballero before inducing a 4-6-3 double play. The Bulldogs scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks to doubles from Griffen Sotomayor and Bobby Blandford, the latter of which came around to score on a single from Lee Trevino.
The Bulldogs made it 3-0 on a solo shot from Saldivar, his second of the season. The Bulldogs added four more runs in the fourth, including a three-run blast from Gray.
“Bryce has been dealing with injuries, and for him to compete his butt off all year, we tried to get some runs for him early,” Saldivar said.
Armstrong continued to mow down the San Jose State order, having 5 of 7 outs come via the strikeout between the third through fifth innings. Cam Schneider and Sotomayor each had RBI knocks in the bottom of the fifth to give Fresno State some cushion.
Armstrong ran into some trouble in the sixth. After walking Jake Maroney, Fernandes reached on a fielder’s choice. He advanced to second on a ground out from Caballero. Zach Chamizo brought him in on a single up the middle, ending Armstrong’s day. His final line: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K.
BJ Rodriguez gave the ‘Dogs four outs out of the bullpen. Collins collided with the bag during the seventh inning and appeared to turn his foot over. There was about a 25 minute delay. The entire team stood with Collins as he exited the team with paramedics.
As a result of the injury, Rodriguez took Collins spot in center as Cooper Bergman came into the game. The Buchanan alum gave the Bulldogs the final six out they needed.
Gray was named tournament MVP for the second straight year. Collins, Armstrong and Trevino were also named to the All-MW Tournament team.
What’s next
Fresno State will find out its regional for the NCAA tournament on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m on ESPN2.
The tournament will begin on Friday, May 30th.
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Cover photo provided by Fresno State.