Fresno State stuns Rice in CWS

Jun 16, 2008 - 12:25 AM OMAHA, Nebraska (Ticker) -- After a pair of upsets on the opening day of the College World Series, the surprising results continued Sunday.

Dan Muno, the Western Conference Freshman of the Year, homered and drive in five runs as Fresno State stunned No. 6 seed Rice, 17-5, at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Bulldogs (43-29), the first No. 4 seed in a regional to reach Omaha since the NCAA expanded the Division I baseball tournament to 64 teams, pounded Rice ace Ryan Berry (8-5) for nine runs in 3 1/3 innings.

"We played aggressively today," Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. "The last thing we wanted to do was to sit back and let the game come to us."

In the first three games of the tournament. top seed Miami, No. 4 Florida State and Rice have all fallen into the loser's bracket of the double elimination event.

Unseeded Fresno State will face the winner of Sunday's second game between No. 2 North Carolina (51-12) and No. 7 Louisiana State in the winner's bracket. Rice (41-14) faces the loser in an elimination contest.

The eight teams are divided into two four-team groups, with the winner of each group meeting in a best-of-three championship series starting on June 23.

Rice now hopes it can follow the path taken by Oregon State in 2006, when the Beavers won the CWS after losing their opening game to Miami.

"It can be done," Rice coach Wayne Graham said. "We need to keep our heads up. We've done a great job playing in survival situations."

Muno had a two-run single in Fresno State's four-run second, then belted a three-run homer in the fourth, when the Bulldogs erupted for seven runs to open an 11-0 lead.

Fresno State starter Justin Wilson (8-5) limited the Owls to two runs and eight hits over seven innings.