It was a quiet and peaceful day in Fresno, at least until the Diamond Dogs stood in the batters box this afternoon. Fresno State (4-3) scored 11 runs on 12 hits Monday to defeat Pepperdine 11-3 and take the series victory over the Waves.
Zach Plasschaert supplied all the runs the Bulldogs needed in the first inning with a grand slam. Buchanan Bear alumni Jett Ruby, Austin Young and Parker Heintz made significant contributions as well. Head Coach Ryan Overland spoke after the game on the offensive depth in his lineup.
“Even with missing some big pieces, still production one through nine, which you’ll need if you’re gonna score runs,” Overland said.
Key players
Parker Heintz: 3 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K, 37 P (24 S)
Zach Plasschaert: 1-for-5, R, HR, 4 RBI
Austin Young: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, BB
Jett Ruby: 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI
What happened
The Bulldogs had as good of a start as they could have asked for on Monday night. After a scoreless first inning from lefty Parker Heintz, Brady Hewitt and Jett Ruby got on with a pair of singles. Griffen Sotomayor then walked to load the bases for Zach Plasschaert, who lofted a ball right over the right-center field fence for the second grand slam in as many days for the Diamond Dogs.
With one out in the second, Barclay Ovalle blooped a single into shallow left. Hewitt followed with a double to left before they scored on a two-run single up the middle from Ruby.
Heintz was superb in his first career start. The freshman allowed just one hit over three scoreless frames. His battery mate, Austin Young, delivered a two-run single of his own to extend the Diamond Dogs lead to 8-0.
“He attacked the strike zone, kept their hitters off balance, and gave us three innings to start a Monday game, which is kind of a midweek game, and both teams kind of deep into their bullpen,” Overland said.
Following a scoreless frame from right hander Jordan Haver, the Bulldogs went to Moose Cuellar in the fifth. The lefty walked two and allowed a single to load the bases before Overland made a switch with one out to Doug Crystal. Waves three-hole hitter Daniel Patterson slapped a single to center to bring in a pair of runs.
The ‘Dogs extended their lead to 9-2 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from Young, scoring Marcus Nolen who doubled. The Waves got the run back in the top of the eighth. Johnny Backus pinch hit and rocketed a ball to center, just over the head of Collins. Backus made it all the way to third before scoring on a throwing error from Fresno State pitcher Will Page-Allen. Excluding the error, Page-Allen was nearly perfect, striking out five and allowing just the one unearned run.
Fresno State added on two insurance runs in the eighth, including an RBI triple from Mikey Boyd. BJ Rodriguez closed the 9th with a scoreless inning as the ‘Dogs won 11-3.
Injury report
3B/LF Cam Schneider – day-to-day
INF Owen Faust (nose) — day-to-day
RHP Jake Riding (arm) – no timetable
1B Cayden Munster (hand) – no timetable
SS Lee Trevino (ACL) – out for season
What’s next
The Bulldogs head north for a three game series at Stanford next weekend, beginning with a 2:05 matchup on Friday, February 27. The Cardinal are 4-4 on the year following a series split against Cal State Fullerton.
Fresno State will return home for a midweek matchup against Sacramento State on Tuesday, March 3 at 6:05 p.m. before a weekend set at Arizona, March 6-8.
“A great environment historically, really good programs on the West Coast, to play in that atmosphere and against obviously the cream of the crop to go to Stanford. So we’ll get to see some really good pitching, for sure. I think to this point, we’ve done a really good job hitting with two strikes, and that’s going to be an even bigger challenge here, especially the next two weekends,” Overland said.
Recap written by Al Scott, cover photo courtesy of Ryan Sepulveda.