This is going to take some getting used to, you understand.

The words will likely not come easily.

But it must now be said: Go Fresno State!

The Bulldogs, a Western Athletic Conference rival Hawai'i fans love to, well, dog, are one game away from the finals of the College World Series. Win tomorrow and Fresno State is guaranteed of playing for the national championship.

Of the current WAC membership, the Bulldogs have already gone further in Omaha than anybody since the storied Rainbows of 1980, who finished runner-up.

For that the Bulldogs deserve a hand. And, not the one that is usually shaken in their face while accompanied by a stream of expletives here, either.

As much as Fresno State teams might be despised in everything from basketball to softball here, they're carrying the banner of the WAC this week and, at 2-0 in Omaha, carrying it high.

It comes not a moment too soon for a conference that had fallen on hard baseball times. When perennial power Rice bolted after the 2005 season, the WAC was written off as a postseason factor. Only once in the past eight years (in 2006 when UH and FSU went) has the conference even received an at-large entry into the NCAA Tournament.

Some years you've gotten the feeling that if the selection committee wasn't compelled to take the WAC champion it might not have taken anyone. That Fresno State was the bottom seeded team in the Long Beach, Calif., regional last month pretty much said what the NCAA selection committee thought of the WAC champs and the level of competition they came from.

So to have the Bulldogs take out then-No. 11-ranked Long Beach State on its home field, eliminate No. 3-ranked Arizona State on its field in the super regional then roar though No. 6 Rice and No. 2 North Carolina in the CWS says plenty.

Unlike the Bowl Championship Series or NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, where having a team means money to the conference, the CWS means validation. Which, if you are the WAC, is still a valuable commodity.

"It definitely provides credibility for the conference," commissioner Karl Benson crowed. Indeed, coaches like UH's Mike Trapasso, who beat the Bulldogs in two of five meetings, can use it, telling prospective recruits they'll be playing in a conference from where it is possible to compete for a national championship. There should also be some carry-over stature for next year's at-large selections.

Which is a large part of why UH athletic director Jim Donovan called his Bulldog counterpart the other day and said, "keep up the good work (in Omaha)."

What Donovan didn't tell him was, "when we (UH and FSU) play, may the best team win. And may it be Hawai'i."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.