2 TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017 www.rafu.com SPORTS A Bulldog for All TimeTime Fresno State Baseball retires the jersey of Satoshi “Fibber” Hirayama. FRESNO.–Fresno State Baseball fense, defense, and special teams star sawsaw itsits 11th11th jerseyjersey inductioninduction inin for the Bulldog football team. On the program history on April 30 at Pete baseball diamond, despite saying he Beiden Field, Bob Bennett Stadium, only came out for baseball to avoid as former Bulldog Satoshi “Fibber” having to participate in spring foot- Hirayama’sHirayama’s No. 3 jersey was retired ball, he became a record-breaker in in a pre-game ceremony before the program history. BulldogsBulldogs tooktook onon SanSan Beiden’s 1951 Jose State. B u l l d o g s p r o d u c e d Honored previ- the greatest winning ouslyously tthishis sseasoneason oonn percentage in pro- a “Night“Night toto Remem-Remem- g r a m h i s t o r y, f i n i s h - bber,”er,” whichwhich markedmarked thethe i n g t h e s e a s o n 3 6 - 4 , 775th5th aanniversarynniversary ooff a w i t h t h r e e o f t h o s e ppresidentialresidential decreedecree thatthat losses coming against lleded ttoo tthehe WWorldorld WWarar professional compe- Fresno State Bulldogs III-eraI-era incarcerationincarceration t i t i o n , a s H i r a y a m a Hirayama speaks at his jersey retirement ceremony on April 30. ooff 120,000120,000 JapaneseJapanese s t o l e a t h e n - s c h o o l AAmericans,mericans, includ-includ- r e c o r d 3 6 b a s e s a s iingng HirayamaHirayama alongalong nobody would surpass low Bulldog Hall of Famer Truman The Bulldogs won the series fi nale wwithith f formerormer B Bulldogulldog him until future major “Tex” Clevenger, a teammate for a against San Jose State, 16-8, giving Kenichi Zenimura, the Fresno State Yearbook Collection leaguer Tom Goodwin pair of seasons (1951-52) and later head coach Mike Batesole his 500th former Bulldog legend H i r a y a m a a l s o s t a r red o n in 1987. a p i t c h e r f o r t h e R e d S o x , S e n a - career win at Fresno State. He joins was recognized for his the Bulldog football team. Hirayama, who tors, Angels and Yankees. Although Beiden and Bennett in the 500-win mmanyany ccontributionsontributions ttoo turned 87 in February, Clevenger suffers from late-onset club at Fresno State as the Bulldog the Fresno State baseball program. recorded fi ve stolen bases in a single Alzheimer ’s, Hirayama continues to baseball program becomes only the Often referred to as the greatest game in 1951, a mark that still stands visit him every week at a senior care fi fth Division I program with three pound-for-poundpound-for-pound athleteathlete inin FresnoFresno today. His exploits with the glove and home in Visalia. head coaches with 500-plus wins at SStatetate history,history, aatt justjust 55-foot-3-foot-3 andand 140140 a s urpris ingly strong throwing arm At the game, there was a giveaway their school. ppounds,ounds, HirayamaHirayama waswas a dynamicdynamic oof-f- also helped make him a fan favorite. o f Bu lldo g s jers eys w ith “F ib b er” For more information on the Bull- T h e 1 9 5 1 B u l l d o g s h a d b e e n l e f t and his number on the back. dogs, visit www.gobulldogs.com. o u t o f c o l l e g e b a s e b a l l ’s p o s t s e a - s o n , d e s p i t e t h a t g a u d y r e c o r d , b u t a s a s e n i o r i n 1 9 5 2 , H i r a y a m a l e d Fresno State to its fi rst NCAA bid. He fi nished his Bulldog career with 71 steals, a record that lasted nearly 4 0 y e a r s b e f o r e b e i n g b r o k e n b y Goodwin. “ I t ’s r e a l l y a t h r i l l , i t r e a l l y i s , ” said Hirayama on having his number r e t i r e d . “ I n e v e r t h o u g h t i t w o u l d happen. It was the last thing in my mind , that my nu mb er w o uld ev er be retired.” The Exeter native, who went on to play professional baseball in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp and was a t w o - t i m e A l l S t a r t h e r e , w a s o v e r- joyed by receiving this honor. “ I l o o k a t t h e s e p e o p l e I h a v e here today and they are the ones that d e s e r v e t o b e s t a n d i n g h e r e t o d a y where I am at,” said Hirayama. “They are good friends and just wonderful people and all the people in Fresno, Exeter and everywhere I played ball Photo courtesy Teresa Zenimura were just so wonderful to me and I The Hirayama clan, including grandkids, attended the ceremony. thank them for that. I want to thank my family for being here and I want to honor these people right here be- side me, because they are the ones who should be standing here.” H i r a y a m a i s t h e f i r s t B u l l d o g p l a y e r t o h a v e h i s n u m b e r r e t i r e d s i n c e D i c k R u t h v e n a n d G o o d w i n had their Nos. 17 and 1, respectively, retired in 2008. Hirayama, along with h i s f o r m e r t e a m m a t e a n d B u l l d o g B a s e b a l l H a l l o f F a m e r J a k e A b - bott and Voice of the Bulldogs Paul Loeffl er, were all a part of Sunday’s ceremony. Bulldog Baseball Hall of Famer Jack Hannah sang the national anthem and Hirayama delivered the Nisei Baseball Research Project fi rst pitch. Hirayama was a member of the Hiroshima Carp in 1955 when his team Hirayama remains close with fel- played manager Casey Stengel’s New York Yankees in Japan.

MAJOR LEAGUES Darvish Goes 7 Strong as Rangers Win in Extra Innings Maeda gets no-decision hander, who spent six sea- t h e g a m e w a s h i s g r o w - sons with the Yakult Swal- i n g m a s t e r y o f t h e c u t in San Diego; Yankees l o w s o f J a p a n ’s C e n t r a l f a s t b a l l . option Higashioka League before making his “ I t w a s n ’t s a t i s f a c t o r y back to minors. majo r le ag u e d eb u t las t pitching, because I failed s e a s o n w i t h Tex a s , t h r e w to go six innings and I was KYODO NEWS / RAFU REPORTS three scoreless innings for pulled after walking the t h e R a n g e r s t o s e n d t h e leadoff hitter,” said Maeda, SEATTLE.–Yu Darvish allowed a g a m e i n t o t h e 1 2 t h s t i l l w h o a l s o w e n t 1 - f o r-2 a t r u n i n s e v e n i n n i n g s f o r t h e Te x a s tied 1-1. the plate. Rangers in 3-1, 13-inning win over T h e 5 - h o u r, 2 - m i n u t e Maeda “ M y p i t c h i n g w a s n ’ t the Seattle Mariners on Friday. game fi nally came to a halt t h a t g r e a t , b u t n o w I ’ v e Working on fi ve days’ rest after i n t h e 1 3 t h . R o u g n e d O d o r b e l t e d gotten to the point where if I’m in a season-high 125 pitches, Darvish a two-run home run for Texas, and trouble in the count and the catcher allowed a game-tying solo Alex Claudio overcame a puts down the sign, I can throw my homer to Robinson Cano in one-out single in the bot- cutter with confi dence.” the fourth inning. Darvish tom of the inning to earn A l s o o n F r i d a y, t h e N e w Yo r k s urrendered s ix hits and the save. Ya n k e e s o p t i o n e d b a c k u p c a t c h e r f o u r w a l k s i n t o t a l , w h i l e I n S a n D i e g o , K e n t a Kyle Higashioka to Triple-A Scran- s t r i k i n g o u t f i v e . H e d i d M a e d a a l l o w e d t w o r u n s ton/Wilkes-Barre. no t fi g ur e in the decis ion i n f i v e i n n i n g s , b u t g o t Higashioka simply wasn’t getting at Safeco Field. n o d e c i s i o n f o r it done at the plate during “I was walking a tight- the Los Angeles h i s fi r s t s t i n t e x p e r i e n c e rope from the get-go,” Dar- Dodgers, who in the majors, as reported v i s h s a i d . “ I j u s t c o u l d n ’t came back to by CBS Sports. The Hun- g e t s t r i k e s . I a l w a y s h a v e Darvish beat the San Di- tington Beach native failed issues in Seattle and Oak- ego Padres 8-2 at t o r e c o r d a s i n g l e h i t i n land. I’m always pitching (in Texas) Petco Park. his 20 plate appearances. where it’s hot and I think the tem- Maeda struck out eight T h e Yan k e e s r e p o r t e d l y perature (difference) has something a n d w a l k e d t h r e e , w h i l e w a n t t o s e e n o t i c e a b l e to do with that.” allowing three hits. He left improvement at the plate R a n g e r s r e l i e v e r To n y B a r n e t t e , the game after 50 pitches, Higashioka a t t h e m i n o r l e a g u e l e v e l who went to high school just outside the last four of them balls to before giving Higashioka S ea tt le , h a d li tt le tr o u b le w it h th e Will Meyers leading off the sixth. a ch a n c e at re j o i n i n g th e bi g - l e a g u e t e m p e r a t u r e , h o w e v e r. T h e r i g h t - T h e o n e t h i n g h e t o o k o u t o f team later this season.