FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
Fresno, Calif. – The Fresno State baseball team released its 2012 schedule Thursday afternoon. The Bulldogs will face tough competition from the Pacific-12, Big West, Mountain West and West Coast Conferences among others.
At least four teams on the 2012 schedule were ranked nationally or receiving votes at the end of the 2011 season. Five appeared in the NCAA Tournament with California making the College World Series and Stanford winning their Regional.
“We have an exciting 2012 schedule this spring,” said head coach Mike Batesole. “We will play 36 home games and expect some great crowds, especially for Stanford, UC Riverside and all of our conference home games.”
This spring (Mar. 2-4) will mark the first time the Bulldogs have met Stanford since 2008. The Cardinal have not been to Fresno since 2006.
Fresno State starts the 2012 season at home against Butler (Feb. 17-19) before hitting the road to face CSU Bakersfield (Feb. 22) and Pepperdine (Feb. 24-26). The Bulldogs return to Fresno for the first of two long home stretches where they face UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 28), Stanford (Mar. 2-4) and San Francisco (Mar. 8-11).
After heading to finish the UC Santa Barbara series on the road (Mar. 13), the ‘Dogs spend five straight series at home in Beiden Field facing CSU Bakersfield (Mar. 16-18), Kent State (Mar. 20-21), UC Riverside (Mar. 23-25), California (Mar. 27) and New Mexico (Mar. 30-Apr. 1).
“It has been these types of difficult non-league series that have prepared us to win six WAC Championship rings in the past six years,” said Batesole. “We would love to end our tenure in the WAC with a seventh straight. This schedule will have us battle tested to take a run at it.”
The Bulldogs begin Western Athletic Conference play at Hawai’i Apr. 5-7. Fresno State’s first home WAC series is against Sacramento State May 4-6. They will also host Louisiana Tech (May 18-20) as their last home series before the WAC Championships in Mesa, Ariz. May 23-27.
Full 2012 Fresno State Schedule
