Sports

FRESNO. – The Mountain West released the 2017 football season's predicted order of finish on Tuesday morning, prior to its two-day media summit getting underway. Fresno State was picked to finish sixth in the West Division by the media.  The' Dogs are looking to bounce back from a 1-11 season in 2016 under first-year head coach Jeff Tedford in 2017.

Fresno State's new leader brings a wealth of experience, having left Cal as its all-time winningest coach in program history with 82 wins in his 11 seasons from 2002-12. All this for a program that won one game prior to his arrival in 2001 that was quickly turned around into a 7-5 mark in his first year guiding the Golden Bears,

FRESNO – The United Soccer League (USL) has awarded a franchise to a Fresno investor group headed by local businessman Ray Beshoff.  At a press conference earlier today at Chukchansi Park, USL President Jake Edwards officially presented Mr. Beshoff with the franchise for Fresno Football Club.  Fresno will join Nashville SC and one more club to be announced for the 2018 USL season.

“As professional soccer continues to grow in this country, the USL stands at the forefront, leading the sport’s next phase of expansion to fantastic markets like Fresno,” said USL CEO Alec Papadakis. “Fresno is a vibrant community with passionate soccer fans, a strong corporate base, and a regional population of nearly one million people. Today’s announcement is another step toward the USL’s goal of becoming one of the best Division II professional soccer leagues in the world, on par with the English Championship, Liga Adelante and 2. Bundesliga. Our success is possible due to the league’s strong ownership group, one of the best in professional soccer, and we welcome Ray and his team to the family. We are thrilled to be a part of this community, and officially welcome another fantastic club to the USL.”

FRESNO - Fresno State baseball head coach Mike Batesole has announced the addition of Jermaine Clark to the Bulldogs coaching staff on Wednesday. "We are very excited to have Jermaine on board," said Batesole. "He fully understands and is committed to our program goals of 'Degrees and Rings.' We were diligent in our search to hire a coach who would move forward with our 22 straight semesters of over a 3.00 Team GPA as well as fight to win our ninth championship ring."

A scout with the Oakland Athletics for the last nine years, Clark brings major league baseball playing experience to the Bulldogs as the Vacaville, Calif., native played for five franchises over a four-year playing career from 2001-05. A left fielder as well as a second baseman during his professional career, Clark played in 46 games collecting 12 hits in 78 official at-bats and added three doubles, three stolen bases, nine RBIs and nine runs scored in his career.

ROUND ROCK - The Fresno Grizzlies (59-42) and the Round Rock Express (45-56) combined for seven home runs on Sunday at Chukchansi Park. Fresno was victorious in an 11-8 final to have won 12 of their last 13 games to remain tied for first with the Reno Aces in the Pacific North Division. J.D. Davis went 3-for-5 for the Grizzlies for his first three-hit game of 2017 at the Triple-A level. He had six three-hit games while with Double-A Corpus Christi earlier in the season.

The Express got on the board first when Jurickson Profar reached second on an error and scored on a Travis Snider (2-for-5) RBI single in the opening frame to make the score 1-0. The Grizzlies tied the game quickly in the second when Davis scored Teoscar Hernandez (2-for-4) with a RBI single.