The Bulldogs did not quite have the fairy tale start to the season they were looking for, allowing nine walks and committing five errors. Despite some strong Bulldog debut performances, it was not enough as Fresno State fell 8-3 to the University of Utah on Friday night at Pete Beiden Field.
Key players
Marcus Nolen: 1-for-3, R, RBI
Moose Cuellar: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K
Cam Schneider: 2-for-5, RBI
What happened
Drew Townson made his first start as a Bulldog, after making 20 appearances out of the bullpen last season. The Bakersfield native was not greeted nicely in the first inning. After allowing a leadoff walk, Utes left fielder Jake Long pulled a ball off the athletic weight room building beyond the visitors’ bullpen for a quick 2-0 lead.
Towson loaded the bases in the second allowing a single and a pair of walks, before getting former San Diego State Aztec Nevan Noonan to ground out to third base. Freshman Marcus Nolen reached in the bottom half of the inning on a grounder through the left side, deflected by third baseman Zakye Hawkins. Two batters later, fellow freshman Brady Hewitt laced a ball into the right-center gap for his first collegiate hit, a triple scoring Nolen to get the Bulldogs on the board.
Poor defense would come back to bite the Bulldogs in the third inning. After back-to-back errors to lead off the frame, designated hitter Cal Miller doubled down the right field line, scoring a run. After a walk to Derek Smith, right fielder Bradley Navarro reached on an infield single, scoring another run. Two batters later, Towson plunked Jet Gilliam to bring in another run for Utah. It ended Townson’s day (2.1 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) after just 69 pitches.
UCLA transfer Moose Cuellar relieved him and would immediately induce a 4-6-3 double play, ending the Utes rally. Cuellar (Tulare Western) HS would pitch three scoreless frames for the Bulldogs on Friday night, including striking out three in the fourth inning.
Bulldog centerfielder Sky Collins tripled to leadoff the bottom of the sixth, before scoring on a sac fly to left from Nolen to make it 6-2. Nolen went 1-fo-3 with a sac fly on Friday, but made hard contact in all four of his plate appearances.
Freshmen Weston Thornbury (1.2 IP, 0 R, K) and Brandon Thomas (1 IP, R, K) also made their collegiate debuts on Friday.
Injury report
Shortstop Lee Trevino is out for the year after tearing his ACL in practice. The redshirt senior is likely to be eligible for a medical redshirt that would allow him to return to the Bulldogs in 2027.
What’s next
Fresno State hosts Utah tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. with Tyler Patrick on the mound. The Clovis West alum had a 4.26 ERA in 38 innings pitched last season as a true freshman.
The Utes will turn to Payton Riske who gave up five runs across 10 innings (two starts) last season. The series will continue with games on Sunday and Monday, both at 2:05 p.m.
Recap written by Al Scott, photos courtesy of Nate Velasco (FSM).
College baseball is back and that means the return of the Diamond Dogs to Pete Beiden Field, in quest of a third straight Mountain West Championship.
Fresno State begins the 2026 season under the lights on Friday, hosting the University of Utah for a 4-game series at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. First baseman Griffen Sotomayor is fired up to play again.
“We’re just ready to compete. It’s been a long fall, a long spring, early spring, so we’re ready to do it, ready to go compete, play against somebody else,” Sotomayor said.
Offensive outlook
The Bulldogs offense led by third baseman Murf Gray (drafted by Pirates), catcher Justin Stransky (drafted by Cubs), right fielder Bobby Blandford (signed by Athletics) and second baseman Eddie Saldivar (graduated) finished top three in the Mountain West in 2025 in batting average (.301), runs scored (417), extra base hits (211), runs driven in (387) and stolen bases (53).
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, all four of those guys are gone now. But Head Coach Ryan Overland sees it as an opportunity for his squad to grow and for some of the returners to step up.
One guy he mentioned in particular was the primary leadoff hitter last season, Sotomayor. The senior from Turlock was the Bulldogs lone representative on the All-MW preseason team after hitting .326 with 7 HR, 41 RBI and a .912 OPS last season.
Griffin Sotomayor (Jackie Carrillo)
“It’s a really awesome honor, super privileged. I think it kind of just goes to show you what the staff does for us. It’s kind of more of a team honor. I think you know a lot of preparations go into it, all the coaches, coaches getting here early, the guys getting early, working together,” Sotomayor said.
The Bulldogs will be without shortstop Lee Trevino, who will miss the 2026 season with an injury. They will return though on offense infielders Jett Ruby, Cayden Munster and Owen Faust and outfielders Cam Schneider and Sky Collins.
Sky Collins (Fresno State Athletics)
Sotomayor noted that while power might not be the team’s calling card, they have a distinct advantage other teams don’t necessarily have.
“This team is gonna have to be really scrappy. We’re going to have to play the game the right way and play hard. Last year I think we kind of were a bit more powerful, a bit bigger, a bit stronger, a bit older. But this year, I think we’re gonna be fast. I think we’re gonna be ready to play the game and pretty much play a clean brand of baseball,” Sotomayor said.
Among newcomers, transfers Bo Rico (Fresno City JC) and Zach Plasschaert (Arizona / Pima JC) have a chance to make an instant impact.
The pitching staff
Much of the success from the 2025 Bulldogs came from having two of the best pitchers on the west coast in Jack Anker and Aidan Cremarosa (MW POTY), who have since been drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays respectively.
In addition to Anker and Cremarosa, Bryce Armstrong and Cooper Bergman graduated. They also lost relievers Caleb Anderson (Long Beach State) and JT Guerrero (Grand Canyon) and Hayden Crews (Northwest Nazarene) in the transfer portal, among others.
Returners pitched just 117.2 out 525 innings from a year ago. That’s not a lot but Tyler Patrick (4.26 ERA in 38 IP), Drew Townson (4-0, 5.05 ERA, 35.2 IP) and left-hander B.J. Rodriguez (3.93 ERA, 21 K, 18.1 IP) all figure to pitch plenty of frames for pitching coach Troy Buckley’s staff in 2026.
Townson and Patrick in particular are excited to make their mark in this upcoming season, citing preparation during an episode of The Pawd, as a big reason for the team’s success in recent years.
“Pressure is a privilege, and you’re in those moments because you deserve to be in those moments. And we work from sun up to sun down to perfect what we do to be in those kind of moments,” Townson said.
He went on to say that the support of the Red Wave makes it a lot easier to perform with such a great fanbase backing them up. Patrick concurred with him and added that it’s a uniquely special to pitch in the same stadium he came to as a kid.
“Growing up coming to these games, watching the games like it’s just such an awesome feeling to finally have the opportunity to be that person you grew up watching and just be a role model for the younger generations,” Patrick said.
Tyler Patrick (Jackie Carrillo)
Joining them are two wild cards in Jake Riding and Victor Arreola that have a chance to anchor the rotation.
Riding is back after missing all of last season with an arm injury. The graduate senior was key for the Bulldogs pitching staff in 2024, going 5-6 with a 5.06 ERA in 19 appearances (9 starts). Arreola went 3-1 with a 5.40 ERA and team-leading .239 opponent batting average over 36.2 IP as a sophomore in 2023. He followed it up with a team-best 3.07 ERA in 41 innings out of the bullpen in 2024. The San Diego native made just two starts last season before going down with a back injury.
The pitching staff is rounded out by the return of Jared Galang and Wyatt Thornbury (missed 2025 with injury), transfers Moose Cuellar (UCLA), Douglas Crystal (Cypress JC) and Will Page-Allen (Feather River JC) and freshmen Parker Heintz, Brandon Thomas, Weston Thornbury, Jordan Haver, Erik Rico and Gavin Ekizian.
Jared Galang (Jackie Carrillo)
Overland adds to his staff
Overland has had a positive start to his Head Coaching career, earning a 94-85 record in three seasons, including conference tournament titles in both of his seasons since having the interim tag removed.
“That’s obviously what the standard of this program is, to get into the NCAA Tournament and ultimately, not only getting regionals, but win games in advance, and ultimately get a team back to Omaha,” Overland said.
Head Coach Ryan Overland (Jackie Carrillo)
He returns pitching coach Troy Buckley, and assistants Ritchie Price and Jack Karraker, all entering their 4th seasons coaching at Fresno State.
Overland made two new additions to his staff, both former Diamond Dog center fielders. Nikoh Mitchell was named the team’s Director of Operations, replacing Jordan Brink, who is now the Head Coach at Clovis West.
Mitchell played for the Bulldogs from 2018-23, both in the outfield and on the mound. He went 11-10 with a 4.53 ERA and 163 strikeouts over 163 innings pitched. He transitioned into a two-way player in 2022 where he saw time primarily as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. As a full-time starter in 2023, Mitchell hit .277 with 37 runs scored and 15 extra-base hits.
Fresno native and 14-year MLB vet Tom Goodwin has returned home as well as the new Director of Player Development.
“Adding Goodwin to our staff is an enormous step forward for our program and athletes,” Overland said. “Goody’s experience and energy coming back home as a Bulldog is extremely exciting for the 2026 season and beyond.”
Goodwin played three years for the Bulldogs (1987-89), including a school-record 56 wins and a College World Series appearance in 1988. He wrapped up his career as the program’s record holder in stolen bases with 164 and remains in the top 10 in school history in batting average (.350), at-bats (821), runs (207), hits (287) and triples (13).
He helped win Gold for Team USA in the Olympics in 1988 and won a World Series in 2018 as a coach for the Boston Red Sox. He’s spent the last two seasons as first base coach for the Atlanta Braves.
The non-conference season slate
Following a 4-game series with the Utah Utes that ends on Monday afternoon, Fresno State will host Pepperdine the following weekend for another 4-game series (2/20-23) before heading north to play at Stanford (2/28-3/2). The Bulldogs will return home for a Tuesday night matchup against Sacramento State on March 3 before playing at Arizona on March 6-8.
Other non-conference matchups include at Cal Poly (3/10), vs Cal State Northridge (3/17), at Utah Tech (3/19-20), vs Long Beach State (3/23), vs Cal Poly (3/31), at Sacramento State (4/7), vs Cal State University Bakersfield (4/14), vs UC Davis (4/20), at LBSU (4/21), at CSUN (4/29), at CSUB (5/5) and at home vs Cal Poly again (5/12).
Defending the west
Fresno State will begin its quest of a Mountain West three-peat in its final season in the conference at home vs Nevada (3/13-15).
The Wolf Pack returns seven starters including 2025 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Sean Yamaguchi and fellow 2025 All-Mountain West selections junior pitcher Alessandro Castro, senior infielder Jayce Dobie, senior catcher Jake Harvey and senior designated hitter Billy Ham from a squad that won the MW regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed in the MW championship before falling in the conference tournament.
The Wolf Pack were picked first by the Mountain West preseason polls, just ahead of the Bulldogs who were picked second.
“It’s nice to be recognized but it’s really just background noise,” Sotomayor said. “If we go play the Bulldog brand of baseball, then you know, 2x Mountain West champs, 3x it could be. That’s kind of just up to us whether or not we play our brand of baseball.”
Head Coach Ryan Overland getting a Gatorade bath (Fresno State Athletics)
The Bulldogs will get one weekend off of MW play before playing at New Mexico (3/27-29), a hitter’s paradise. Fresno State will host former Bulldog JT Guerrero and Grand Canyon the following weekend (4/2-4) before playing at Air Force (4/10-12).
Fresno State will finish April hosting a pair of California conference rivals in San Jose State (4/17-18) and San Diego State (4/24-26).
The Diamond Dogs will then wrap up conference play with three series in the month of May: at Washington State (5/1-3), home vs UNLV (5/8-10) and at San Jose State (5/14-16) before returning to Mesa, Arizona (5/20-23) in quest for another Mountain West tournament title before the program moves to the PAC-12 Conference.
Season expectations
As mentioned earlier, the Bulldogs lost plenty of top-end talent through the draft and graduation and replacing it won’t be easy.
A healthy pitching staff and some power improvements from guys like Munster and Schneider in the middle of the order would go a long way towards a potential three-peat.
Cayden Munster (Jackie Carrillo)
It’s hard to predict the future and pinpoint where this team will find themselves come May, but fair expectations for this year’s team would include 30+ wins and a top three finish in the conference, both in the regular and postseason.
“A lot of new guys, a lot of new faces, but guys that are ready to step up, and guys that are ready to make a name for themselves,” Sotomayor said.
Story written by Al Scott, cover photo by Jackie Carrillo (FSM).
