Fresno State Diamond Dogs headed to NCCA tournament

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One of the hottest teams in America will travel up the road to Palo Alto to face UC Santa Barbara Friday in the opening game of the Stanford Regional.

Head Coach Mike Batesole's Bulldogs learned their postseason fate during Monday morning's selection show.

"Being close means we'll get an extra day of practice day in," he said. "Maybe even get a scrimmage on Wednesday before we head up there, so there are some advantages."

Fresno State heads into the tournament having won 23 of its last 27 games, including 13 straight away from Beiden Field.

The Bulldogs capped their conference championship season by winning their first Mountain West Tournament title in Reno over the weekend.

WATCH: Diamond Dogs win Mountain West Tournament

The team learned their postseason fate during Monday morning's selection show.

"What's exciting about it is our crowd will get to go," Batesole said. "Most of the places we've played on the road this year and the reason we've had so much success on the road is we generally draw better than the home team."

For Fresno State its the program's 35th appearance in the NCAA Tournament but first since 2012.

That year a slugger named Aaron Judge was lighting up scoreboards for the Bulldogs.

"That was a special team with an amazing offense...the bats were dead then so it was a little tougher for that offense to come out," Batesole said. "The bats are making a little bit of a comeback, and with the warm weather and that ballpark it would potentially be a good offensive day."

The Diamond Dogs are set to take on the Gauchos at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPN3.