The Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team – the one that very few thought could do it – has done it!

Taming one top-ranked powerhouse team after another – the elite of collegiate baseball in the nation – the Bulldogs won the 2008 NCAA College World Series Championship with a convincing 6-1 win rout of the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs today in Omaha.

Now the university invites the Central California community out to welcome the team home Thursday night – a special event that has been upgraded to the Fresno State Bulldogs National Championship Parade and Celebration.

The celebration begins at 6 p.m. with a parade on Barstow Avenue beginning at O’Neill Park (corner of Woodrow Avenue). It will proceed west to Cedar, south to Bulldog Lane and west into the Blue Lot.

A Fresno Fire Department fire engine will lead the parade of players and coaches who will be driven on Bulldog Run trolleys and University Police carts to Beiden Field.

The Fresno State pep band, including alumni, will perform at the celebration where the players and coaches will be introduced. Numerous elected officials or their representatives from throughout the reion are expected to attend the tribute to Fresno States’ first national championship in men’s sports. The only other Fresno State team to win a Division 1 national title is the 1998 women’s softball Bulldogs.