After four hours and 57 minutes of play, Fresno State would walk away as a winner in a dogfight between the Wolf Pack and Bulldogs at the Mountain West tournament semifinals in Mesa, Ariz.
Nevada trailed Fresno State 6-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, as Nevada’s lone run was courtesy of a solo home run by Taylor Holder. Mountain West Pitcher of the Year, Aidan Cremarosa, struck out eight entering the seventh.
Jackson Waller led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single, followed by a pair of walks from Donovan Ratfield and Jake Harvey, would load up the bases for the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, Sean Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was 0-8 during the Mountain West tournament thus far, but smacked a ball into right field to drive in two runs and cut the Pack’s deficit, 6-3. Jayce Dobie would add on another run with an RBI single, making it 6-4 Fresno State at the end of the seventh inning.
With two runners aboard with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Billy Ham would hit a ball hard on the ground through the three-four hole to make it a tie game at 6 all. Nevada would strand two runners aboard in the bottom of the 10th. Fresno State would load up the bases in the top of the 12th, but Yamaguchi would climb the later and make run-saving catch to end the inning. Nevada would have runners on the corners in the bottom of the 13th, but the Pack couldn’t break through as Michael Ball would pop up to short to end the inning.
Mountain West Co-Player of the Year Murf Gray would step up to the plate in the top of the 14th with the bases loaded, lining a ball down the left field line to drive in three runs and take a 10-7 lead. The Bulldogs would add on two more runs in the top of the innings. Despite Holder getting aboard Nevada In the second longest game in Mountain West tournament history, Fresno State would come out on top, 12-7 in 14 innings.
Nevada would take on San Jose State later on Friday evening in an elimination game, starting at roughly 10 p.m., with the winner advancing to face Fresno State in the championship on Saturday at Noon. The winner of SJSU/Nevada would need to beat the Bulldogs twice in order to clinch a Mountain West championship title and the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.