Fresno State baseball lost a ton from Mountain West title team. Here’s why hope is high in 2020

Fresno State last season won 40 games, won the Mountain West and swept through the conference tournament.

The Bulldogs were outs away from taking the NCAA Tournament Stanford Regional and they had eight players selected in the Major League Baseball draft including six in the first 15 rounds for the first time in more than a decade, the last time back in 2006.

That’s Ryan Jensen and Davis Moore. That’s Zach Ashford, McCarthy Tatum, JT Arruda and Carter Bins.

That’s a lot of important innings, a lot of quality at-bats.

But with the Bulldogs set to open their 2020 season on Friday against UC Irvine at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium, they’re again in with a big chance in the Mountain West.

“We lost some big pieces and some old pieces,” said coach Mike Batesole, who is entering his 18th season at Fresno State and last season was given a two-year extension with an option for a third year that was triggered when the Bulldogs won the conference title.

“Generally, you have a pretty good turnover every year. Your seniors leave. Many of your juniors sign (pro contracts). Basically, you have half a new team every year. But to have this much pitching returning that handled their piece is really good. I feel really good about that.”

Pitching depth

Jaime Arias and Oscar Carvajal, who worked at the back end of the Bulldogs’ bullpen last season, are now at the front of the rotation.

Arias will start the opener against the Anteaters coming off a season where he struck out 59 batters in 46⅔ innings and racked up 12 saves, ranking in a tie for second in program history.

Carvajal was 4-0 with an ERA of 2.68 and two saves, working primarily in a setup role. He struck out 48 batters in 40⅓ innings.

The Bulldogs also have left-hander Nikoh Mitchell, who along with Jensen and Moore was tied for the Mountain West lead last season with 15 starts. There are big arms in the freshman class, notably Jake Harrell (Sanger High) and Alex Kendrick (Buhach Colony-Atwater).

“Those are a couple of power arms that are going to develop and are very likely going to be in our rotation next year,” Batesole said.

“We’re going to give them some bigger pieces than we normally would give freshmen because they’re ready for it.”

The backend bullpen spots handled by Arias and Carvajal are fairly deep, as well, with Kevin Larson and Ryan Sullivan back.

“We lost two giant pieces, but the good news is we have seven guys returning from the bullpen that all handled their piece exceptionally well,” Batesole said. “You don’t win 40 games and do what we did unless your bullpen is doing what it’s supposed to do.

“Larson had the lowest ERA on the team until the last game. Oscar was shutdown in the eighth and then he went out to the (Cape Cod League) and got better and he should be able to start. Arias was a first-team All-American as a closer, but he started games for us as a freshman. He was 5-1 as a starter as a freshman.”

Conference poll

That pitching depth is at least part of the reason Fresno State was picked to finish second in the Mountain West in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

The Bulldogs received 42 points, just four behind San Diego State. They received two first-place votes to the Aztecs’ four. Nevada, which was picked to finish third in the conference, received the other two.

“Usually, with your pitchers, you’re not in the kind of shape that we’re in,” Batesole said.

It also could play well in an abbreviated conference race. With Boise State adding baseball the Mountain West is up to eight teams and they will get one series against each conference team; seven series, 21 games.

In the past they have had 30 games scheduled, though weather sometimes becomes a factor.

The last time every Mountain West team got 30 conference games in was 2016; last season Nevada, UNLV and San Jose State played 30 games, Fresno State and San Diego State played 29, New Mexico played 28 and Air Force got in only 26 conference games.

Batting leaders

If there is a question for Fresno State it is the offense. But, there, too, the Bulldogs have pieces that excelled a year ago in limited roles.

Matt Ottino hit .360, but in only 25 at-bats. Ryan Higgins hit .320, but in 50 at-bats, playing mostly against left-handed pitching. E.J. Andrews Jr. hit .290 in 69 at-bats.

Fresno State has only three returning position players who had 100 or more at-bats last season – Emilio Nogales, Nate Thimjon and Zach Presno.

“Those guys have had some success,” Batesole said. “Presno last year, he hit 10 home runs. That’s a really nice piece to have, a power middle of the batting order returning. You don’t always have that.

“Mac and Bins and Arruda, and (Nolan) Dempsey, those are the guys that were doing all the damage last year. Now these, these guys who were kind of role players, can they step up and be the guys that carry the load? That’s the big question mark. How are we going to touch home?”

Season highlights

The Bulldogs open the season witih 12 straight home games. After the UC Irvine series (6:05 p.m. Friday, 2:05 p.m. Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Sunday), Washington visits Feb. 21-23, Cal Poly Feb. 25, Columbia Feb. 28-March 1 (four-game series) and Seton Hall March 3.

Fresno State doesn’t have a home weekend series in March, which sees them playing at Arizona State (No. 9 in the D1Baseball.com preseason Top 25), at No. 22 Oklahoma State and in a nonconference tournament against Mountain West opponents in San Diego.

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 3:49 PM.