From Underdogs to Wonderdogs!

[Dodgergirl]

Fresno State to play Georgia in best-of-three championship series starting today.

Fresno State (45-30) will play Georgia (44-23-1) in the College World Series' best-of-three championship series starting at 4 p.m. today.

OMAHA, Neb. - "We're going to the 'ship, baby!" Championship, that is.

Players from the Fresno State baseball team yelled the saying over and over, their improbable run in the NCAA Tournament extended once again and now at the final stage.

With a 6-1 victory against North Carolina on Sunday at Rosenblatt Stadium, Fresno State advanced to the championship series of the College World Series and is two wins from capturing a national title.

Yes - a national title.

Fresno State (45-30) will play Georgia (44-23-1) in a best-of-three series that starts at 4 p.m. today.

"If you look at the way we started, where we're at now is just inconceivable," Fresno State pitcher Brandon Burke said. "It's just been an amazing season."

Placed in its fourth must-win or go-home situation of the postseason Sunday, the Bulldogs made surviving another elimination game look routine.

Fresno State played flawlessly on the field (no errors), came up with enough clutch hitting at the plate (10 hits) and received a surprisingly stellar performance from starting pitcher Clayton Allison, who had been injured the past two weeks.

Allison, who had been dealing with tendinitis in his right shoulder, lasted six innings and gave up just one run.

Teammate Tommy Mendonca supplied the offense and some brilliant defense by going 3 for 4 with four RBIs and making numerous spectacular defensive plays.

Fresno State accomplished the feat against two-time national runner-up North Carolina, which a night earlier had hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to beat the Bulldogs and force them into Sunday's elimination game.

"I really believe we just wanted this more than they did," Allison said. "We tried not to think about [Saturday], just start a new day fresh. They did have the momentum going in. We had the experience of playing in elimination games.

"But we've been on a really good run. It's an awesome experience, the most awesome experience I've ever had. And now we're here, playing for a national championship.

"I would never have thought we'd make it this far."

[Dodgergirl]

Fresno State shrugs off elimination once again in capturing first crown after historic run

OMAHA, Neb. - It happened, just as it does in the fairy tales. A happy ending to complete this Cinderella season. A movie based on real-life memories that won't go away anytime soon. Maybe not ever.

Fresno State captured the NCAA championship Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 18,932 at Rosenblatt Stadium. Click for photo slideshow Parking map for celebration | Story Celebrate the 'Dogs

It took a 6-1 victory against Georgia before a national television audience to complete the improbable run, which safely goes down as college baseball's most historic underdog run.

Unseeded Fresno State -- a team that needed to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament simply to make the NCAA Tournament and then was given a No. 4 regional seed survived its sixth elimination game of the postseason.

Fresno State lost the first game of this best-of-three series then came back to win the next two against a team that was seeded No. 8 nationally.

"Isn't this amazing?" said Fresno State outfielder Steve Susdorf as he clutched the NCAA trophy wearing a national champion T-shirt. "I'm shaking."

Wednesday's game, actually, wasn't too nerve-rattling for Fresno State.

There was no need for late-inning heroics to save the day.

Those types of performances were used earlier in Fresno State's run to get to Wednesday.

It really didn't go down to the final inning, though Fresno State coach Mike Batesole took no chances and marched out closer Brandon Burke in the end.

For the most part, all Fresno State needed was pitcher Justin Wilson and outfielder Steve Detwiler.

Despite pitching on three days of rest, Wilson lived up to his big-game reputation with seven shutout innings before finally allowing a run in the eighth.

With his fastball in the low 90-mph range and his offspeed pitches biting, the left-hander from Buchanan High struck out nine and allowed just five hits against a Georgia team that came in with a .311 average and had feasted off fastballs throughout the College World Series.

Often, Wilson would put batters away with an inside fastball that seemed untouchable -- too fast for hitters to catch up to and with too much natural movement to lock on to.

"What he did off three days of rest was unbelievable," Fresno State catcher Danny Grubb said. "They weren't going to touch him. Not when Justin's throwing like that. He found energy somewhere. Man, he was amazing."

Detwiler supplied the offense with a perfect performance at the plate -- going 4 for 4 with two home runs and driving in all six runs.

Moved up two spots in the lineup because Georgia started a left-handed pitcher, the right-handed Detwiler smashed a two-run homer to right field in the second inning then connected for a three-run shot to left field in the sixth.

In between, Detwiler supplied an RBI double in the fourth to pick up a Fresno State offense that seemed spent, having used all of its bullets a night earlier in amassing 19 hits in a 19-10 victory against Georgia on Tuesday.

Take away Detwiler on Wednesday and Fresno State hit 4 for 31 as a team.

And Detwiler did it with a torn tendon in his left thumb, suffered two months ago. He also was hitting just .231 (6 for 26) coming into the CWS finale.

"For him to have the game that he had today, it was perfect for the ballclub," Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. "He's made of heart. To see him doing what he's doing, it inspires everybody."

The title run completed, Fresno State surely will inspire future underdog teams for years to come, when coaches might recount this 2008 season and tell their team, "If Fresno State could do it, so can we."

Fresno State, which began the season by losing twice to a first-year Division I team in UC-Davis, never once showed signs of national-championship capability.

Its main goal entering the season was to get past the regionals, where its 2006 and '07 runs had died.

Fresno State got some dominating wins in Western Athletic Conference play, but was 16-16 in nonconference play at the end of the regular season.

But the Bulldogs got hot when it counted most and learned to win in so many ways -- beating up elite pitching, outproducing elite hitting, flashing spectacular defense, turning to reserve players and coming through in tense situations each time.

"This game's a puzzle and every guy's got one piece of the puzzle," said Burke, who was on the mound for the final out of the regional, super regional, CWS bracket play and the CWS championship round. "And together, I guess it spells national champions.

"Maybe if Cinderella had an ugly sister, you could say that's us. I don't know how much of an underdog we were, but what it took to get here, whew, all I know is it happened. ... We're national champs."