Former Sequoia High School standout Kyle Pruhsmeier tabs ‘W’ pitching for Fresno State

Having served in just about every pitching role possible in his three years with the Bulldogs — from long man, to middle reliever, to his second collegiate start March 7 against San Diego State — Pruhsmeier summed up how he felt in one word after stepping up Sunday as Fresno State’s impromptu closer.

“Fresh,” said Pruhsmeier, who acknowledged the training staff at Fresno State for helping keep the Division I program’s arms in top form. “Honestly, it was not as hard as a lot of people think. … We were prepared as a pitching staff for this, to do our part.”

After having won the first game of a Saturday doubleheader 5-2, Fresno State found itself trailing by a run in the eighth inning of Sunday’s rubber match. But as Pruhsmeier was warming in the bullpen, the Redwood City native got a little help from his friends when junior Ryan Higgins — a Saint Francis-Mountain View graduate who hails from Atherton — drilled a solo home run to left field to tie the game.

Pruhsmeier escaped a jam with runners at the corners and one out by notching back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, finishing off the frame with a nasty changeup. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Fresno State walked off with the victory — giving Pruhsmeier his first winning decision since 2019 — on an RBI double by Andrew Kachel to spark a Bulldogs celebration in the middle of the diamond.

“The stars aligned for us,” Pruhsmeier said. “It was great for team morale and brought us together.”

The stars have aligned for Pruhsmeier since landing at Fresno State. As a freshman in 2019, he was joined by a familiar face in Higgins. They didn’t know each other well but had met while living in neighboring cities in high school. Now, the two are off-campus roommates.

The following year, in 2020, former Capuchino and Skyline College star Greg Gonzalez, was brought on as an assistant coach at his alma mater Fresno State. And this year, a former high school rival out of Carlmont arrived at Fresno State when Vinny Bologna transferred from University of Oklahoma.

Each Bologna, Higgins and Pruhsmeier played pivotal roles in the weekend’s series win over New Mexico.

Bologna — who has been peppering the ball all season with little to show for it, according to Gonzalez, save a mere .182 batting average through 10 games — produced his biggest swing of the bat Friday in the fifth inning. With the Bulldogs trailing 2-1, Bologna stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and promptly drilled a bases-clearing double off the wall in left-center to give Fresno State a 4-2 lead.

“It was kind of a missile that got over the outfielder going back,” Gonzalez said. “Not one of his moonshots, but he definitely hit it hard.”

Then Sunday, Higgins energized the Bulldogs with the game-tying pinch-hit homer in the eighth, his second of the year.

“Emotionally, it took our team’s energy through the roof,” Gonzalez said. “That one swing won us the series right there.”

And Pruhsmeier’s fresh arm earned him a look at the closer role Sunday, a role he had never served in his entire life. The opportunity arose after Fresno State’s regular closer Oscar Carvajal pitched both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, and was deemed unavailable Sunday.

“[Pruhsmeier] is certainly a guy we feel confident in those higher leverage situations when we need to get an out,” Gonzalez said.

Pruhsmeier is the second pitcher with San Mateo County ties with whom Gonzalez has crossed paths during his Division I coaching career. While serving as assistant pitching coach at Santa Clara University from 2018-19, he had former Menlo-Atherton standout Matthew McGarry — now in his senior year at Santa Clara — on staff.

Gonzalez raves about McGarry, and is similarly high on Pruhsmeier, who touts three put-away pitches with a heavy fastball that runs 89-91 mph, a slider and a changeup.

“He’s turned into a guy that you can’t really sit on one pitch,” Gonzalez said.

As for Pruhsmeier, he’s content striking out batters in whatever role Fresno State manager Mike Batsole throws at him.

“It felt kind of all new,” Pruhsmeier said of stepping into late-inning relief. “But, it’s not like the pitching changes. The goal remains the same.”