After 309 days away from the diamond, Bulldogs start sharply in rout of Bakersfield

Fresno State got in only half a baseball season a year ago because of the coronavirus, then had no summer ball nor a fall campaign.

But missing that grind for more than 11 months because of COVID-19 wasn’t much of a problem for the Bulldogs on Friday when they opened their 2021 schedule with a 13-2 victory over Cal State Bakersfield at Beiden Field, a series thrown together at the last minute after both teams had coronavirus-related cancellations.

Dylan Johnson ripped a three-run triple in the first inning and Zach Presno crushed a two-run home run in the second, the 27th of his career, getting the Bulldogs and right-hander Jamison Hill off to a fast and comfy start.

The Bulldogs throughout kept the pressure on Roadrunners starter Ethan Skuija and three relievers; Skuija in 19 2/3 innings last season allowed opponents to hit just .200 and was 2-1 with an ERA of 3.20.

“It’s the resiliency of the kids,” said coach Mike Batesole, noting that it had been 309 days without baseball for the Bulldogs, not so much as a stretch, a lifting session or a meeting as a team.

“As coaches, I’m an over-doer and that’s not a good thing in situations like we’re in where everything is constantly changing and big things are changing. Shoot, I think three times in the last three weeks we’ve had different days where seven games on our schedule have changed in one way or another. It’s constantly changing and adjusting and adapting and the kids have handled it so well, so much better than I have.”

The Bulldogs racked up their 13 runs on 17 hits, including eight for extra bases, and five walks. They hit with runners in scoring position – 6 for 15 (.400). They got key hits with two out – 9 for 17 (.529), including the triple by Johnson and home run by Presno.

Nate Thimjon came off the bench and crushed a home run over the scoreboard in left-center field. Johnson had three hits, and Josh Lauck, Zach Morgan and Matt Ottino all had two.

Opening Day doesn’t often deliver definitive answers, but Fresno State has to like the direction it is headed going into a season in which it was picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference behind San Diego State and ahead of New Mexico, UNLV, Nevada, Air Force and San Jose State.

“I don’t know if that was today or … we’ll know in a few weeks from now, but at least for one day today it was pretty good,” Batesole said.

That includes Hill, who allowed just six hits and one run in six strong innings that were amplified by the absence of senior left-hander Nikoh Mitchell, a preseason All-Mountain West Conference selection who was expected to be the Bulldogs’ Friday night starter this season.

Mitchell, Batesole said, will miss at least one month with an injury.

But Hill took a solid forward step after going 1-1 with an ERA of 4.67 in three starts in a 2020 season that was cut short by COVID-19 after 16 games.

“It was fantastic,” Batesole said. “For the first time out, he was very steady. He was in control from the beginning. It may be weird, maybe, but from a coach’s standpoint, I’ve been with Jamison for a handful of years now and he’d had the tendency to be really, really good and then lose focus and then be trying to find it all the time.

“He had that (fifth) inning where we made it 9-1 and we had the long inning offensively and they changed the pitcher in the middle of the inning and the game changed and he had every opportunity to go out there and lose his focus a little bit and walk a guy and he was getting close to 80 pitches. He stayed steady and went right at them and that gives me a lot of hope because that is a veteran move right there.”

Coming up

The three-game nonconference series concludes with games at 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

All games can be heard on Fresno-area ESPN radio affiliate KFIG (AM 940).

Fans, per current state guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus, are not able to attend home games at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.

This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 8:26 PM.