Will Fresno State call on ace Ryan Jensen on short rest in NCAA Stanford Regional final?

Fresno State needs to get 27 outs at Stanford on Monday night to win a trip to play at Mississippi State in the Starkville Super Regional.

Will Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole ask ace Ryan Jensen to get any of them, working on short rest?

The junior right-hander has won his past 10 decisions and crushed his past four starts, which includes a stellar 7 2/3 innings on Friday in an opening 9-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara at the Stanford Regional.

But he also threw 110 high-impact pitches in that game, and they play large.

Then again, Monday also would be a normal side day for Jensen and there could be 25, 30, 35 very good pitches in there even if they come out of the bullpen or to close out what obviously is a critical game.

After the Bulldogs’ 8-6 loss to the Cardinal on Sunday to set up a winner-take-all game at the regional, Batesole wasn’t going there.

“It’s his bullpen day, but probably not,” he said.

Batesole in past years hasn’t wheeled back on a No. 1 starter when the Bulldogs have been in similar positions.

In 2017 at the Mountain West Conference Tournament, left-hander Ricky Tyler Thomas didn’t make it out of the first inning in an opening 18-10 loss to San Diego State and came back to start two days later against New Mexico.

But he threw only 34 pitches in allowing 10 earned runs in that loss to the Aztecs.

That is much different than throwing 110 and then coming back three days later even in a short burst.

In 2012 at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament the Bulldogs needed to play six games in five days to win a ring. Thomas Harlan started the first and sixth of those games, but he had four days between starts going on Wednesday and then on Sunday.

Arias fresh

So, with a spot in the Starkville Super Regional waiting for Fresno State or Stanford, where do the Bulldogs go?

Nikoh Mitchell and Nik Cardinal each pitched three innings on Sunday, Mitchell throwing 84 pitches and Cardinal 48.

Jamison Hill pitched two innings and was tagged with the loss Sunday and is suspended for the regional championship game after he was ejected following the final out in the fifth inning.

The Bulldogs didn’t use Oscar Carvajal or Kevin Larson on Sunday, two mainstays at the back end of their bullpen.

Closer Jaime Arias has yet to pitch in the regional and started one game this season, April 14 against Air Force when the Bulldogs and Falcons played five games in three days due to a weather postponement. He went 6 2/3 innings in that game, allowing only two hits and one run while throwing 95 pitches. Arias also worked five innings out of the bullpen in an April 6 loss at Oregon, allowing four hits and two runs and striking out eight while throwing 81 pitches.

The Bulldogs could start there – Arias could have some length, even though he has thrown more than 20 pitches just twice in his past 10 appearances.

Balls and strikes

No matter who the Bulldogs go to against Stanford, the No. 1 seed in the regional, the key will be throwing strikes.

They are in this position to some degree because they didn’t do that Sunday, at least until Cardinal entered in the sixth inning and fanned six batters.

Mitchell walked seven batters and allowed four runs in just three innings. Hill walked two and allowed four runs in his two innings.

“He came right at them and we should have done more of that at the beginning,” Batesole said, of Cardinal. “I think we picked around a little bit too much and he went right after them and I think maybe we learned our lesson.

“We did a good job of that the first two nights and (Sunday) we didn’t. (Monday) we’ll come back out and see if we can make that adjustment.”