1994_04 The Daily Collegian April 1994

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Page 6
Tuesday, April 5,1994
FSU softball finally
defeats No. 1 Arizona
5
j
Fresno State's y'
softball team now
ranks^No. 5 in
national ranking
By Victor Hernandez
THECOLLEGIAN j
* I '
The Fresno State softball team'
enjoyed a successful spring break,
compiling a 6-4 record and hand- .
ing top-ranked and defending
champ University of Arizona its
first loss of the year.
Backed by the explosive bats
which have yet to cool off this
season and stellar pitching perfor¬
mances j*SU improved their over¬
all record to 26-9 and upped their
ranking from seventh to fifth in the
national poll.
. While most of us were on Vaca¬
tion, relaxing and enjoying the time
away from school and the stresses
that come with it, coach Margie
Wright and her squad battled some
of the top teams in the country in
the Pony-Louisville Invitational
held in Fullerton, CA. The Bull¬
dogs were able to negotiate three
wins in six games, including a 3-1
victory over #1 Arizona. The win
snapped/*'32-*game Wildcat win
stniairdating bpok to last year.
After the-solid showing at the
Fullerton tournament, Fresno State
faced WAC-rival San Diego State.
The Bulldogs swept SDSU in two
close games played at the Bulldog
Diamond. Supported by FSU's ace
pitcher Maureen Brady (17-4), the ^
Bulldogs improved their WAC con- ■.
: record to 6-0.   Next the
Senior catcher Christa Yorke has
defense and leadership to the Mo.
Bulldogs welcomed sixth-ranked
CS Northridge to a doubleheader.
FSU clinched a 5-2 win in the first
game but saw their perfect 15-0
home record snapped in the second
game to the Matadors, losing 3-1.
"The Arizona win was a huge
victory for our club, We proved we
can beat the best and deserve to be
ranked with the top teams in the
country,'* said Wright.
On the mound this season the
Bulldogs are blessed with one of
the top pitchers around in Brady.
Her impressive 17-4 record and
Sports Information/Re Photo
contributed solid hitting,
5E
[Collet repeats as heptathlon champ
basically the same as it was last        "It gives me a lot of confidence
Collet said "I knew exactly
who was coming back and I knew
that there were ao new faces so I
thought I had a fairly good chance
of wiaciaf It But my ultimate goal
*ktMeewimmgwasbreaking5.000
Deest-j-Dfl/ points, aid that's what I did.**
Not only that, but she set per¬
sonal records in six of the seven
St    ev«u*w4l*totheherxathkiri. Collet
_>»-    was helped by victories in three
fctadd of 5^,093   events. She woe the 100-meter
'" rs.T**mark.   hurdles, breaking the tape id 14.83,
totalof all   a new Fresno State heptathlon
only 272N recocoYGoUit also cleared 5-6 to
'i record    fake me high jump and won the
lonfjmitfwiflia*capofl8-7 1/2.
*   Collet was especially proud of
t tnovrrejtipoati»"r«Uall-Djnelist
"That* awesome, I love it/*
Collet said. "My next goalis to win
the WAC and to improve my score
to about 52- or 537httndred and
make sure I go to me ($CAA's)."
The native of San Jose. Calif.
says trot wianag the l*puihk>n
will hdp bet ro future events mis
wot   last   year's
^|*Whflprsoiial-
-•08*400 less
because besides winning I proved
somethiBg to myself iray indi¬
vidual events," said Collet
Bulldog junior Rachel Hudson
Gniiihed third in the heptathlon
with a career-high 4,483 points,
food enough for seventh all-time
atFSU.SophomoreClaireBoykin
was seventh with 4,127 points:
On the men's side of the coin
—die decathlon —junior Alonzo
Arreola turned in a third-place
finish in his first FSU Easter De¬
cathlon/Heptathlon. Boosted by a
victory and a career best mark of
55.05 in the 400-meter dash
Arreola took third place with a
career-best two-day totAl of 6.305
Arreola also finished second in
the 110-meter hurdles (16.22) and
javelin with a heave of 179 feet
Robert Budwig, competing as!
an unattached athlete, won the
decathlon with 7,192 points.
FSU'sPhflWagner(5.691pts.)
and Eric Evans (4^62 pts.) were
fifth and ninth respectively.
Bulldogs drop 2 of 3
to WAC-rival SDSU
Fresno State falls
to 4-5 in confer^
enee play
microscopic 1.05 ERA has proven
an awesome force for FSU this
season. Brady utilizes great con¬
trol and incredible stamina to bully
around opposing batters.
Fresno State has carried sorrteof
the hottest bats in Division 1 soft-
ball. Senior Kim Maher leads the
Bulldogs offensively with a .439
batting average (.520 in league)
and also leads FSU in hits, runs;
doubles, triples, total bases and
walks.
See NO. 1 ARIZONA, page 7
Collegian Sports Staff
The Fresno State baseball team
(4-5, 16-18) suffered two tough
conference losses to San Diego
State last weekend to fall below
.500 in the Western Athletic Con¬
ference and for the season.
The Aztecs (6-3,21 -13) moved
into a first place tie in the WAC s
Western conference with Cal -S tat e
Northridge Sunday by defeating
FSU 4-3 on a bases loaded hit
bats-man in the bottom ofthe 11 th
inning. Scott Warembourg, who
had relieved starting pitcher
Brendan Behn in the ninth, hit
Tony Zaragoza with a 3-2 fastball
to bring in the winning run.
The inning began when short¬
stop Ben Reynoso bobbled a
ground ball for an errors Travis
Lee then followed with a double
off Warembourg. Cleanup hitter
Heath Hayes then drew an inten¬
tional walk to load the bases, be¬
fore Zaragoza sacrificed his rib
cage for the game-winning RBI.
Behn continued his excellent
pitching Sunday, only allowing
two earned rami over eight in¬
nings, but the Aztecs used timely
hitting early to give them the lead.
Behn recovered from a leadoff
walk in the first inning , retiring
the next two hitters in the SDSU
lineup. Four consecutive two-out
singles followed, however, and
ruined Behn's otherwise strong
performance.
The Aztecs got their third run in
the fifth on a Jared Fowler home
run, but the Bulldogs evened the
score with one run in the sixth and
two more in the seventh. FSU, who
had only six singles for the game,
were shut out the rest of the way.
In Saturday's game, the Bull¬
dogs rode the pitching arm of
Jared Fernandez for its only win
ofthe weekend series. The senior
improved his record to 6-3 with a
nine-hit five-strikeout complete
game performance.
Fresno State jumped out to an
early lead with two runs in the
first, but the Aztecs came back
with three of their own in the
bottom ofthe second. Fernandez
proved to be dominating the rest
of the Way, shutting SDSU's of¬
fense down for the remaining
seven innings. Single FSU runs in
the sixth and seventh innings gave
the Bulldogs the only other runs it
wouId need Saturday night in San
Diego. **  *    ^
The Aztecs opened the series
with a 9-5 victory Friday night,
roughing up FSU ace Tommy Mi¬
nor for eight earned runs in seven
and two-thirds innings of work.
Most of the damage came after
two outs had already been made
in the seventh. With the score tied
at five and the go-ahead run on
base, Bennett instructed Minor to
intentionally walk Lee, who had
already singled twice in the game.
Hayes then walked on four straight
pitches, setting the scerje for
Sunday's hero, Zaragoza.
The shgrtstop lined a 1-2 Mi¬
nor pitch down the right field line
to plate two Aztec runs. A third
run' crossed the plate when
Zaragoza got into a rundown be¬
tween first-and second base.
SDSU scored four runs in the
seventh to give them an 8-5 lead.
Minor entered Friday's game
See BULLDOGS, page 7
orewitl
Bulldogs finish third at own
Fresno Lexus Golf Classic
Junior Joe Acosta
finishes in fifth
place
By Mark Bryant
STAFF WRITER
Fresno State's golfers put to¬
gether a credible finish at the 31st
annual Fresno Lexus Collegiate
Golf Classic last week, ending the
tournament in third place behind
Brigham Young and University of
Pacific.
Though FSU trailed BJTU by
only six strokes entering the final
Bound of play on Wednesday, the
Bulldogs were unable to make the ♦
ground and fell to the third spot
with a three-round team total of
876. BYU compiled 869 points and „
UOP tallied 8,73.
There was consolation in that
the Bulldogs ended the third round
with a strong finish, edging out
New Mexico by one stroke for thi rd
place.
Last year the Bulldogs, led by a
seventh-place finish from David
Burroughs, finished second in the
18-team field. FSU ended that tour¬
ney four strokes behind UCLA.
Consistency has been the key
for FSU this season. Coach Mike
Watney's team has now placed in
the top 10 in each of their nine
tournaments this season. The Bull¬
dogs have finished in the top five in
six of the nine tournaments, and
third or better in four tourneys.
The 'Dogs ended a three-tour-
namenf streak in which they fin¬
ished out of the top five by their
placing in the Lexus tournament.
See LEXUS, page 7
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