Dog gone: Fresno State knocked out of Mountain West Tournament by top seed
The Fresno State Bulldogs’ late-season run into the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament was built by their offense.
But they didn’t have quite enough to keep up with No. 1 San Jose State on Saturday.
The No. 4 Bulldogs were knocked out of the tournament and into summer vacation with an 11-8 loss to the Spartans at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium, allowing three runs in the second inning, four in the fourth and three in the fifth.
San Jose State, which ranked only fifth of seven in the conference in home runs, hit three of its four homers in those three innings — a 3-run homer in the second by Robert Hamchuck, a solo shot by James Shimashita in the fifth and a 2-run homer by Charles McAdoo in the fifth.
Fresno State (30-27) was down 11-6 after five innings and scored single runs in the sixth and seventh, but could get only one runner on base in its final two chances to cut into that deficit.
Senior Nikoh Mitchell led the Bulldogs with two hits in four at-bats including a solo home run in the seventh inning.
San Jose State beat No. 3 Air Force 7-5 Saturday night and 12-9 Sunday afternoon to win the double-elimination tournament. The Falcons won their first two games in the tournament, beating San Diego State then the Spartans. San Jose State plays eighth-seeded Stanford in the NCAA Tournament.
