Preseason WAC Favorite Fresno St to Ruston Friday

[DogsWin]

Fresno State tied with Hawaii as the conference favorite in the 2007 WAC Coaches' Poll. It sure would be nice to pick up a big win Friday night and then sweep these guys to get back into the conference race!

[dogtrooper]

Any guesses on attendance for this series? It will be one of the more important conference home series we play this season. 'Official' attendance for the ULM series was 2536 & 2088. It dropped off for the Sac St. series to 413, 415 & 423. My guess is 860's for Fresno. I'm using the W.A.G. calculation method of course. I'll be curious to see what the attendance is for the ULL game too. They're a 'regional' opponent, and they're not a bad ball club either.

i'm just curious to see how much the regional games with quality opposition spike our attendance.

[DocMarvin362]

Can't be there Friday, but I will be on Saturday and Sunday.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Since it's Fresno -

We should have decent crowds -

I would say close to 1,000....

[TechFanno1]

It's all about WINNING-if we win this series and get back in the Conference title chase-attendance will take care of it self. Go Dawgs!!!

[falcon]

Fresno State tied with Hawaii as the conference favorite in the 2007 WAC Coaches' Poll. It sure would be nice to pick up a big win Friday night and then sweep these guys to get back into the conference race!

If you check out the current stats on the WAC website there are a couple of things we need to improve on if we're serious about winning conference. Here is a comparison between us and Hawaii......our pitchers have given up 243 hits,127 walks,35 wild pitches,& 161 runs with an era of 4.59. Hawaii has given up 231 hits, 51 walks, 9 wild pitches,& 84 runs with an era of 2.65. If you've been to a lot of games you've noticed that a high percentage of our walks end up scoring.We walked 76 more batters than Hawaii and gave up 77 more runs. WALLA !!!!!! WALKS = RUNS !!!!!!!! ( especially when it is a leadoff walk......and many of them are) I think we can definately improve on this. I'd like to see less "wasted pitches" when our pitchers are ahead in the count 0-2.Why throw a pitch way up high or way outside when you know he is not going to swing at it? Be aggressive and throw him your best "out" pitch, barely off the dish.Defensive swings are what we need. Throw the ball on his hands or a bit low & outside.A wasted pitch helps a hitter comeback and work the count back until we throw him a better pitch or eventually walk him.What better time to put a hitter away than an 0-2 count and he has to be defensive? I'm sure the scouting report on us is that in that 0-2 situation our pitchers never throw a strike. Anyone have any thoughts on this or different insights? The only other stat that sticks out is that we only have 8 sacrifice bunts. Here are the others....Hawaii 16....Fresno 16......San Jose St 20......Sac State 24. We either lead or are near the top in every offensive category....we just need our pitching staff to pitch to their potential.There is hope because we have seen some flashes of excellent pitching this spring so we know they have it in them.

[littledawg50]

Good points Falcon

Waste pitches: should be outlawed. A waste pitch should be good enough for a batter to have to swing at and bad enough so the batter can't do much with it. Does it drive ya'll crazy when the catcher sets up two feet outside and of course the pitcher hits the target, which is two feet outside, and the ump calls a "ball" and the crowd goes nuts at the ump.

Is it just me or do we throw alot of off-speed stuff compared to fast balls? Don't get me wrong, a change up or curve can be a great pitch but I like fast balls on the corners. Could this be a factor causing our large number of walks?

Hawaii only has 8 home runs, talk about small ball working.

Also, would like for us to steal more bases. We have some serious speed on this team.

I really think I could win it all if they would let me coach behind my computor. HA!!

[dogtrooper]

Hawaii only has 8 home runs, talk about small ball working.

That's Hawaii's style of ball. I think last year they were dead last in the wac for home runs, but they ended up finishing second i believe? If you've got good pitching, small ball can be very effective.

[DogsWin]

Those pitching stats are very telling. We definitely have to pick it up there! Hopefully we can keep the winning streak going Friday night.

[rabiddawg]

On the flip side of that "throw away" coin, if the pitcher intends to hit the corner and leaves it over the plate by mistake he may give up a big hit on an 0-2 pitch. Its a tough call imo, but is made easier the more confidence a pitcher has in his stuff.

[bulldogRHP]

We also have to look at Hawaii's schedule... Not in who they play but WHERE they play. Obviously it would be difficult for Hawaii to travel alot in non-conference series'. Ex: The Rainbows are 19-8. They have only played 3 of their 27 games off the island. Now as for my argument. Not sure how many of you have done your research and looked at Les Murakami Stadium, but it is a BIG stadium... 325 down the lines, 365 in the gaps, and 385 in center, which may not seem large to you but the ball doesn't fly well on the island. So my point is, they can play big ball too they just havent been playing on fields that allow that side of their game to shine.

[falcon]

Does anyone know why Fresno State preseason WAC player of the year Ozzie Lewis hasn't played since March 11th? He was supposed to anchor their outfield offensively and defensively.If you are from Fresno and you're checking out this site,give us the scoop.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Does anyone know why Fresno State preseason WAC player of the year Ozzie Lewis hasn't played since March 11th? He was supposed to anchor their outfield offensively and defensively.If you are from Fresno and you're checking out this site,give us the scoop.

He was seduced and kidnapped by the former Ms. Stacy Johnson?

:icon_wink:

[RXDAWG]

He was seduced and kidnapped by the former Ms. Stacy Johnson?

:icon_wink:

That wouldn't be a bad way to go!