Fresno State continues mastery of Buchanan product, advances to Saturday in MW tournament

Fresno State continued to frustrate Buchanan High product TJ Fondtain, keeping the Bulldogs alive at the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament at Beiden Field.

Tommy Hopfe hit two two-run homers, including a two-out shot in the top of the first off Fondtain, and Fresno State went on to win the Friday afternoon elimination game 4-2. The Bulldogs were eliminated in an 11-8 loss Saturday to San Jose State.

Fondtain, the conference Pitcher of the Year, went six innings but the Aztecs were held in check by Fresno State starter Roman Angelo (six innings), Victor Arreola (two innings) and Hopfe, who switched from first base to pitch the ninth for his 11th save.

Making the day even more remarkable for Hopfe, an All-MWC pick: the switch-hitter hit his first homer right-handed and his second left-handed.

In his career against Fresno State. Fondtain is 0-3 in four starts with a 5.85 ERA. The junior left-hander finished this season 7-4 including a no-hitter against Nevada.

THURSDAY:

Fresno State shoved to Mountain West elimination game, will likely face ex-Buchanan star

Host Fresno State will likely face a hometown hero with its season on the line Friday in the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament.

The tournament started Thursday at Pete Beiden Field with two run-rule games. Top-seeded San Jose State beat No. 4 Fresno State 13-2 in eight innings and No. 3 Air Force defeated No. 2 San Diego State 12-1 in seven innings.

San Diego State did not use its conference Pitcher of the Year, TJ Fondtain out of Buchanan High, meaning the junior left-hander will likely start in Friday’s 1:30 p.m. elimination game against Fresno State.

The Bulldogs’ own junior left-handed ace, All-MW pick Ixan Henderson (Clovis West), gave up nine hits and six runs in five-plus innings.

Fresno State stirred in the top of the sixth, cutting the lead to 6-2 on a one-out double off the wall by No. 9 hitter Travis Welker followed by a triple to almost the same spot by Grady Morgan.

Spartans left-hander Jack White entered and struck out Nikoh Mitchell and MW Freshman of the Year Murf Gray. White got all eight of his relief outs via strikeout and San Jose State put it away with a walkoff, three-run homer, its fourth home run of the game.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Fresno State is No. 4 seed, but in comfort zone headed into conference baseball tournament

Fresno State ended its baseball regular season with two games against Saint Mary’s in which it faced 12 different pitchers, and some obviously were better than others, with livelier arms and better stuff or better command.

But that’s a lot of pitches from a lot of arm angles in a lot of game situations, and the Bulldogs still put up 17 and 12 runs with just one constant carrying through those 18 innings and into the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Comfort. Comfort in the batter’s box, in working counts and making adjustments.

It has taken a while, but that was evident up and down the Bulldogs’ lineup and notably in freshman Murf Gray, who is batting .318 over his past 10 games and .305 through his first 167 collegiate at-bats.

That also could carry them a long way in the tournament, which starts on Thursday with a 1:30 p.m. game at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium between No. 2 San Diego State and No. 3 Air Force with the No. 4 Bulldogs taking on No. 1 San Jose State at 6 p.m.

“It’s for sure a mix of making them work harder in counts and us being patient,” said Gray, who has been the conference freshman of the week seven times. “We’re not swinging at too much stuff out of the zone and we’re making a lot of hard outs. Getting on with two outs or with two strikes, that’s really big. That’s what we feed off of.”

Gray is not alone there. The Bulldogs did not come into the season with a lot of banked at-bats anywhere in their lineup and before this 10-game stretch were batting .251 as a team, sixth in the seven-team league. They also were sixth in runs scored and seventh in on-base percentage and in slugging percentage.

“I think it takes time sometimes to come together as a team and especially offensively where the lineup we had, where there wasn’t a lot of production,” coach Ryan Overland said.

“Sometimes when you get off to a slow start, guys really want to be the one to change it or get the big hit or drive in all the runs, but I think what they’ve really understood is that they need each other and the production has come one through nine. Just do their small piece for the guys behind them, and now that’s where the offense really grows and it blossoms into what we’ve seen the last three weeks.”

Bulldogs on a roll to end regular season

Tommy Hopfe, a junior who had 125 at-bats at Fresno State coming into the season, has hit .500 (22 of 44) in the past 10 games with three home runs and 15 RBIs. Senior Travis Welker, with career 135 at-bats, has hit .447 (17 of 38) in this stretch, with Grady Morgan at .378, Nikoh Mitchell .359, Gray at .318 and Ben Newton at .310.

The Bulldogs, from that fitful first 44 games, ended the regular season hitting .270 and moved up to fourth in the conference in runs scored and fifth in on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Gray said he felt a shift in a series against UC Santa Barbara at the start of April. In the opening game of that series he was down in the count 0-2 and produced a run with a sacrifice fly. In the second game he was behind 1-2, didn’t bite at a pitch out of the zone, then drilled a solo home run and added another two innings later, the first two home runs and first multi-home run game in his career.

The Bulldogs (29-24) took two of three in that series, and scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of the first game with two outs.

Murf Gray Bulldogs’ big-time freshman

Gray has been a big part of the Fresno State surge, settling in as the starting third baseman after starring as a hitter, pitcher and shortstop at Madera South High. Last Memorial Day weekend, he led the Stallions to a Central Section championship at Beiden Field. He arrived at Fresno State at 6 feet 4 inches and 210 pounds with promise.

“During the start of the season I was a little bit anxious in the box,” he said. “I wanted to get on so badly. I wanted to get my first hit or a hit so badly. I feel like I was pressing a little too much and I feel that’s what a lot of our hitters were doing, just pressing too much, making everything bigger than it is. You just have to simplify, keep it simple.

“I kind of figured it out with the bat a little bit, how to stay patient. I got into a couple of two-strike counts where I just sat back and knew in my zone and got a couple of hits out of it. I think that’s what really pushed my confidence and our confidence as a team this season.”

Mountain West Tournament schedule

at Pete Beiden Field

winner qualifies for NCAA Tournament

Thursday

No. 3 Air Force 12, No. 2 San Diego State 1, 7 innings

No. 1 San Jose State 13, No. 4 Fresno State 2, 8 innings

Friday

Fresno State 4, San Diego State 2

Air Force 7, San Jose State 3

Saturday

San Jose State 11, Fresno State 8

Championship game, 6 p.m. (if necessary game 1 p.m. Sunday)