Feb. 10, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - After five hours and thirty-three minutes and sixteen innings the longest game in Fresno State history the Bulldogs came away with an 11-10 victory in the second game of the doubleheader. Oscar Lopez hit a single to score Tobey Riday-White for the game-winning run. The Bulldogs won game one 8-5 in nine innings. Fresno State improved their record to 5-4, while Santa Clara falls to 0-6.
In the first game, the Santa Clara Broncos got off to an early 2-0 lead over Fresno State. Mike Theoharis hit a double into right field to score Matt Miller and Joe Diefenderfer.
The Bulldogs took control of the game in the second inning when they scored six runs to give Fresno State a 6-2 lead. Josh Labandeira got things started for the Bulldogs when he hit a single. Simon Tafoya walked to get on and Nick Garcia hit a double to score Labandeira. Three batters later Brad Harper stepped to the plate and hit a three run home run to score Garcia and Tafoya. Tom Creighton then reached on a single. Brandon Gemoll hit a fielder's choice to advance Creighton to third. Casey McGehee singled to score Creighton. Labandeira hit a single to score Gemoll giving the Bulldogs a 6-2 at the end of two.
In the top of the third the Broncos scored two runs when Pat Peavey hit a home run to score the designated hitter Diefenderfer cutting the Bulldogs lead to two runs 6-4.
In the seventh, Matt Queen hit a solo home run for the Broncos to cut the Bulldogs lead to 6-5.
The Bulldogs capped their scoring with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to give Fresno State a 8-5 victory in game one.
The Broncos got out to an early lead in game two of the doubleheader when Theoharis hit a double to score Diefenderfer to give Santa Clara a 1-0 lead, before the game was delayed one hour due to a mixture of hail and freezing rain. When the game got back underway the Broncos added one when Jack Headley scored off an error by the Bulldogs shortstop Labandeira on a Peavey grounder. Santa Clara scored their third run of the inning when John Hilvert singled to score Theoharis giving the Broncos a 3-0 lead.
The Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the first inning when Creighton scored on McGhee's double. In the second, Fresno State scored four runs to take the lead. Creighton's RBI single scored Garcia the following batter Oscar Lopez singled to score Creighton. McGehee hit a single to score Lopez and Gemoll giving the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead.
Fresno State posted a comeback with three in the third inning, with two outs on consecutive singles by Guzman, Creighton and Lopez giving the Bulldogs an 8-3 lead at the end of three innings.
Santa Clara came back with three in the fifth and one in the sixth. In the fifth, with two outs Peavey singled to drive in Headley who had reached on an error. Queen singled in Theoharis while Hilvert's double scored Peavey cutting Fresno State's lead to 8-6 at the end of five. In the sixth, Balestreri singled stole second and scored on Headley's single cutting the lead to one run for the Bulldogs.
Fresno State scored in the seventh inning when Harpers sacrifice fly brought home Garcia who had led off with a triple giving the Bulldogs a 9-7 lead.
Santa Clara scored one in the eighth and one in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Diefenderfer scored on Headley's RBI double in the eighth. In the ninth Balestreri's RBI single scored Queen tying the game at 9-9.
In the eleventh, The Broncos' Queen led off with a single he advanced to second on Hilvert's single, and scored on Clint Cleland's sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs came back when Dan Young hit a grounder to score Tobey Riday-White tying the score at 10-10.
In the bottom of the 16th, Lopez singled in Riday-White for the game winner.
