“Playing for a championship, playing for first place with four games to go is where we’re at.”
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By Al Scott
After falling 12-10 to San Jose State on Friday, the mood in the Fresno State clubhouse was lower than it usually was.
But they regrouped Saturday afternoon in dominating fashion, defeating the Spartans behind seven shutout frames from Aidan Cremarosa and home runs from Lee Trevino, Justin Stransky and Murf Gray.
“It boosts morale a bit. It always sucks to lose extra innings, it’s free baseball. It feels good when you win,” Cremarosa said.
With the win, the Diamond ‘Dogs improve to 25-25 and 16-10 in Mountain West Conference play, clinching a spot in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
“Obviously that’s a step we needed to take to get that but, playing for a championship, playing for first place with four games to go is where we’re at,” Head Coach Ryan Overland said.
What happened
Cremarosa got a quick pop out to begin the first before allowing Alex Fernandes to single up the middle. A batter later, Fernandes broke for second where Stransky threw a strike to second base to nail the Spartans right fielder. Fernandes was previously 14-of-14 on stolen base attempts.
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Stransky drove in a run in the bottom of the second to make it 1-0 ‘Dogs. Fresno State made it 3-0 in the third inning, including a solo shot from Stransky.
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Stransky went 3-for-4 on the day, including his fifth home run of the week. His head coach emphasized the importance of getting the catcher going.
“Had kind of a rough weekend in Reno last week, but he has really caught fire,” Overland said. “When we’re getting production like that around him, it really takes the stress off.”
The Bulldogs added another run in the fourth inning, courtesy of a fielder’s choice from Sky Collins to make it 4-0.
WIth two on and one out in the sixth inning, Trevino came to the plate and absolutely crushed what was his first career home run.
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“It felt good off the bat. Collectively as a group, just trying to stick to our plan, attacking the fastball and trying to do some damage,” Trevino said. “Coming to the field every day with this group of guys has been really fun. I’m really blessed to be here.”
Overland was happy for his shortstop but was more interested in talking about his first two appearances.
“They were maybe the two biggest at bats of the day, getting the two-strike hit through the four hole, and then the move situation, shooting one over there as well. That was fun,” Overland said.
The ‘Dogs scored three more runs in the inning including a solo blast from Murf Gray. It marked his sixth straight conference game with a blast.
“He is still growing every day and taking opportunities to attack pitches that he wants to hit, and getting mistakes when they come,” Overland said.
With plenty of insurance runs, Cremarosa was cruising all afternoon. He threw seven shutout innings, striking out six while allowing just two hits.
“The cutter was big for me today, just throwing it into lefties, away to righties, got a lot of swing and misses, and then just putting them away with the change up,” Cremarosa said.
With the draft a month away, Saturday marked what was probably Cremarosa’s last start at Fresno State.
“It’s a good team win. Got another one tomorrow, so gotta go do it again,” Trevino said.
What’s next
The Bulldogs will look to close out the series with a victory over the Spartans tomorrow afternoon in the rubber match. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
Bryce Armstrong will be the opener in what is expected to be a bullpen game.
“That was big for Crem today,” Overland said. “We got a lot of fresh guys to go tomorrow, they do too as well, kind of little two sided to that. Tomorrow will be a fight.
Cover photo provided by Fresno State.