Legendary Rice coach Wayne Graham was accustomed to facing Fresno State (Rice was in the Western Athletic Conference with FSU from 1996-2005), but he had never played the Bulldogs in such a big game.

While Graham’s Rice Owls are making their 14th consecutive appearance in the national tournament and their third straight trip to Omaha, Fresno State slipped into the national tournament by winning the WAC Tournament, and the Bulldogs are making their first trip to Rosenblatt Stadium since 1991.

Nonetheless, the Mike Batesole-led Bulldogs outplayed Rice pounding them 17-5 behind a 14 hit attack and solid pitching by lefty Justin Wilson (7 IP, 2 ER). Fresno notched only 13 hits but took advantage of 6 walks and a costly error in the 2nd inning that continued a rally instead of ending the inning. With the usage of the long ball (Danny Muno, Alan Ahmady, Tommy Mendonca, and Jordan Ribera all homered), Fresno managed to capitalize on nearly every opportunity leaving only four runners on base throughout the entirety of the game.

But this is what Fresno State has been doing throughout their entire postseason run. They have been turning heads and sending home favored teams:

Long Beach Regional
After receiving an automatic bid and a regional#4 seed in the Long Beach Regional, the Bulldogs drew Long Beach State in their opening game. Behind a strong outing by Wilson and five doubles from the middle of the lineup, Fresno took down the host Dirtbags 7-3. Senior pitcher Clayton Allison followed that up with a five hit, complete game shutout over San Diego to put the Bulldogs in the regional championship.

After falling to San Diego 15-1, Fresno responded with a 5-1 victory the following day to send the Bulldogs to the Tempe Super Regional, only the second time a regional #4 seed had advanced to the super regionals. Holden Sprague pitched 5 1/3 effective innings before giving way to Brandon Burke, who was lights out. Burke picked up the save with 3 2/3 innings of one hit ball.

Burke Does It Again
The Bulldogs lost the first game to the #3 national seed Sun Devils of Arizona State in the super regional opener, but in game 2 it was again Burke starring in relief. With Fresno clinging to a 7-6 lead in a win-or-go-home situation, Batesole inserted Burke, and he slammed the door shut. He collected his second save with another 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

Do-Or-Die
The Bulldogs win forced a do-or-die, winner advances, loser goes home Game 3. The game was a back-and-forth contest until the seventh inning when Fresno broke a 5-5 tie with 6 runs thanks in part to a bases clearing double by Erik Wetzel and a 2-run home run by Steve Susdorf. The Bulldogs would tack on an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning, and then held off a late rally by the Sun Devils to win 12-9 and advance to the College World Series in Omaha.

Winning Without Ace
With the win, Fresno State became the first regional #4 seed to ever make it to the College World Series. What makes their run even that more impressive is that the Bulldogs have done all of it without ace Tanner Scheppers. Scheppers, who was drafted in the second round despite being out, has been sidelined with a shoulder injury since the middle of May.

What’s Up Next?
The Bulldogs will now face off with the North Carolina Tar Heels, the #2 national seed and our favorite to win the CWS, on Tuesday at 7 PM EST. As if that task weren’t tough enough, it appears Fresno will be without the services of Allison. According to Batesole, the senior pitcher has been unable to complete a bullpen session since he last threw in Game 2 of the super regional against Arizona State. Batesole said they could possibly try to work him into a reliever’s role if his arm responds by Tuesday morning, but the coaching staff doesn’t want to risk ruining the career of the 27th round pick.

Therefore, the ball will likely be given to Justin Miller. If the Bulldogs want to continue their miracle run, Miller is going to have to step up. The 16th round pick has yet to pitch past the fourth inning in the national tournament, but with this squad, who’s to doubt Miller stepping his game up?

Shotgun Spratling

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