The Merced Sun-Star has a great article on Fresno State’s Tommy Mendonca discussing his breakout season in 2008. He started last season with a .171 average over the first month. After two months, it raised to .209 while striking out 40 times before April 1st. He ended up finishing the regular season with a .259 average, 14 homers, and 47 RBI. Mendonca went on an absolute tear during the NCAA Tournament where he hit five homers. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
FRESNO, CA, NOVEMBER 7, 2008: One of the most improbable and incredible college sports championships ever is captured in the new book, Underdogs to Wonderdogs: Fresno State’s Road to Omaha and the College World Series Championship. With 200 full-color photos packed into 168 letter-sized pages, this hardcover edition chronicles Fresno State’s 2008 season from start to furious finish. Penned by Paul Loeffler, the team’s longtime radio announcer, Underdogs to Wonderdogs also includes: Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Sorenson of CBS College Sports recently put out an article about his 64 preseason predictation for the 2008 season to see if any of them came through. He predicted many different things including that Oregon State would not win the National Championship to the amount of Beer Gardens going down in Omaha. Read the rest of this entry »

I was shocked to find out that Deadspin.com had linked to some college baseball articles on Monday. The first one revolves around Buzz Bissinger who went to the CWS in Omaha a few weeks ago. He was having a pleasant experience before having a run in with security which left him bloodied and in a heated argument. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Erik Wetzel decided to return to school after rejecting a contract offer from the Rockies. After reportedly not speaking with the Rockies for a week, Wetzel signed on the dotted line and was given a $100,000 signing bonus. Wetzel is the second junior to leave the Bulldog program, as pitcher Justin Wilson signed a deal with the Texas Rangers after being picked in the 16th round. With these two juniors and team leaders Steve Susdorf, Clayton Allison and Tanner Scheppers all leaving, the question is, is Mike Batesole the next out the door?

According the CBS 47 in Fresno, Batesole’s house is back on the market. Early reports of him leaving have to be premature, as there are only 3 vacant coaching positions in Division-I baseball, at Eastern Michigan, Eastern Kentucky and Charleston Southern. Needless to say I don’t think he is leaving anytime soon, unless a coach at another school is planning on retiring, leaving room for Batesole.

Our good buddy Eric Sorenson of CSTV checks in with his final Extra Innings column wrapping up the 2008 postseason. He talks about the future of CSTV/CBS College Sports and how Fresno State winning the 2008 CWS is not the biggest upset in sports history. I tend to agree with him. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM EASTON SPORTS
VAN NUYS, Calif. (June 26, 2008) – Easton Sports, the leading manufacturer of sporting goods equipment, once again demonstrated its dominance in college baseball Wednesday at the College World Series® as Fresno State became the 20th champion in the last 29 years to win a title swinging Easton baseball bats exclusively. The Bulldogs also became the lowest seeded NCAA team to capture a Division I crown ever, completing a daunting postseason run for the history books. Read the rest of this entry »

Fresno State completed the most improbable run in recent college sports history as they became the lowest seed ever to win a national championship defeating the Georgia Bulldogs 6-1 on Wednesday night at Rosenblatt Stadium. The night belonged to Steve Detwiler who had a career night in the championship game going 4-4, driving in all six Fresno State runs and setting College World Series records for the most home runs in a championship game with two, most home runs in a championship series with three, most RBIs in a championship game with six, most RBIs in a championship series with nine, most extra base hits in a championship game, most bases in a championship game with 11 and in a fitting end to the game he caught the final out for Fresno State.

Fresno State scored two runs in the top of the second inning off of a two run blast by Steve Detwiler. Detwiler drove in the third run of the game in the top of the fourth with a double that scored Steve Susdorf and the Detwiler continued his one man onslaught with a three run blast in the top of the sixth and then capped off his night with a single in the top of the eighth.

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Good friends of The College Baseball Blog in Eric Sorensen of CBS College Sports (Formerly CSTV) and Doug Kroll of NCAA.com have put out a video previewing the winner take all game that will take place tonight.

One night after blowing a three run eighth inning lead Fresno State found themselves down 5-0 after just two and a half innings and in desperate need of something special if they were to stay alive in the championship series. Something special is what they got. The Bulldogs rallied for six runs in the bottom of the third inning followed by five runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the bottom of the fifth a total of 14 runs in the span of three innings.

The Bulldogs who batted around in both the third and fourth innings suddenly found themselves up by nine runs. Georgia tried to mount a comeback as they scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull to within five at 15-10 but Fresno State answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning and one more in the bottom of the eighth to stretch the lead back out to nine runs.

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The Georgia Bulldogs tagged Fresno State closer Brandon Burke for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to stun the west coast Bulldogs in game one of the best of three series. Fresno State had just plated three runs in the top of the inning to take a 6-3 lead.

With their starting pitching used up the Fresno State Bulldogs turned to Sean Bonesteele for the start. Bonesteele pitched three innings and gave up just one run before turning the ball over to the rest of the Fresno State bullpen. Jake Floethe, Kris Tomlinson and Jason Breckley combined to pitch the next six innings giving up just two more runs as Fresno State turned to their closer Bradon Burke with a three run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.

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Fresno State defeated North Carolina 6-1 to secure their spot in the championship series of the 2008 College World Series. After falling 4-3 to the Tar Heels on Saturday night on a go ahead two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning by UNC’s Chad Flack the Bulldogs bounced back to bounce out the Tar Heels giving up only one run.

For the third straight game against North Carolina, Fresno State jumped on the board first in the bottom of the third inning on a two RBI single by third baseman Tommy Mendonca. UNC cut the lead in half at 2-1 when Kyle Shelton drew a bases loaded walk with one out however, the Tar Heels weren’t able to bring any more runs across the plate.

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