OMAHA — Fresno State has reached the brink of pulling off what once was unimaginable for a team in its situation: winning a national championship.
One of the most amazing postseason runs in college baseball history continued Tuesday night thanks to an offensive performance that was nothing short of, well, amazing.
After spotting Georgia a five-run lead in the third inning, Fresno State struck for 15 runs over the next three innings for a 19-10 victory in Game 2 of the College World Series finals.
“This club has a lot of heart. I keep saying that because it’s true,” Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. “This team has been going and going and going, and they’re going to go for nine more innings.”
The Bulldogs from Fresno State (46-31) and Bulldogs from Georgia (45-24-1) will meet in Game 3 tonight to determine college baseball’s top dog.
“Throughout the whole season, we knew we had all the tools to do something like this,” left fielder Steve Susdorf said. “To put them all together and get to the point is not really describable.”
Tommy Mendonca put Fresno State in front with his record-tying fourth home run of the CWS in his team’s six-run third inning.
Fresno State scored five runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to trip up a Georgia team that appeared on the verge of sweeping through the CWS to its second national title and first since 1990.
Fresno State wouldn’t let its incredible season end that way, not on this night. Rather, the Bulldogs scored the most runs against a Georgia team since Tennessee’s 19-12 win in the 2001 CWS — 435 games ago.
Before Tuesday, Fresno State hadn’t come back from more than four runs down to win a game this season.
Georgia coach David Perno tried to keep a sense of humor in defeat.
“We had a tough time defending the post pattern across the middle. It’s killing us,” he said. “And then that late extra point.”
Considering what’s at stake, Perno said, it should be easy for his players to quickly forget Game 2.
“This is for everything we’ve worked for, and it comes down to (tonight),” he said. “There is no other team I would want in our dugout other than this team. It’s a one-shot deal.”
Known as the “Wonderdogs” around here, Fresno State displayed more of the moxie that has carried them further than any No. 4 regional seed had gone previously.
Fresno State batted around in the third inning and sent 10 to the plate in the fourth. Mendonca’s three-run homer put the Bulldogs ahead 6-5, and Susdorf’s two-run shot in the fifth made it 15-6.
“I got lucky,” Mendonca said of his blast.
Batesole and his players sat stone-faced at the postgame news conference. This team has come too far to have a premature celebration. There’s still work to do.
“The time to celebrate,” second baseman Erik Wetzel said, “will be after.”
Georgia 311 100 400 — 10 15 0
Fresno St. 006 540 31x — 19 19 3
Montgomery, Dodson (3), Harvil (4), Grimm (6), Earls (7), Esmonde (8), Leaver (8) and Massanari, Crane (6); Miller, Sprague (3), Hower (7) and Overland, Grubb (5). W — Sprague 6-2. L — Dodson 5-5. Sv — Hower (1). HRs — Fresno St., Mendonca (19), Susdorf (13).
