Bob Bennett, Fresno State baseball’s winningest coach, passed away on Sunday, May 31, at the age of 86.

Completing a 34-year head coaching career at Fresno State in 2002, Bennett racked up 1,302 career wins at Fresno State as he became the seventh coach in NCAA history to reach 1,300 wins. He ended his career with 26 consecutive winning seasons.

Making trips to Omaha for the College World Series in both 1988 and 1991, Bennett’s 1988 club won a program-record 56 games and went on a program-best 32-game winning streak.

“Our prayers go out to the Bennett family,” current Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. “Rest in peace to the greatest coach our Valley will ever see, [his] name on the stadium says it all.”

A charter member of the Bulldog Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 as well as a member of both the College Baseball Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Bennett led the Diamond ‘Dogs to 17 conference championships, 21 NCAA tournament appearances and two trips to the College World Series. Bennett coached 32 All-Americans and nine first-round Major League Baseball selections while being named a conference coach of the year 14 times in five different conferences.

“Coach Bennett is a legend in college baseball, and I have never met anyone who loved the game more,” said Paul Loeffler, the voice of the Bulldog baseball team. “He never stopped giving or teaching. The legacy his amazing family and the men who played for him represent will be a credit to Fresno State and the Valley forever.”

As a student-athlete at Fresno State from 1952 to 1955 for legendary coach Pete Beiden, Bennett earned a pair of CCAA all-conference honors as a catcher in 1954 and 1955 as the Bulldogs won conference titles each season.

On May 7, 2016, Pete Beiden Field officially became Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium as the stadium was dedicated in his name in a pregame on-field ceremony.

“Bob Bennett’s transformative impact on Fresno State and Bulldog baseball will be felt for generations to come,” said Fresno State director of athletics Terry Tumey. “His memory will always live on inside Bob Bennett Stadium. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bennett family.”

Visit gobulldogs.com for the full story.

(Story courtesy of Fresno State Athletic Communications.)