PROVO -- Cameron Coughlan and two big innings helped BYU escape hard-hitting New Mexico on Thursday, 11-9.

BYU improves to 14-13 in the Mountain West Conference, seizing a share of second place with Utah. New Mexico falls to 10-18 in the MWC.

Coughlan went 4-for-5 on the night with three runs scored and two RBI to lead the Cougar offense, helping BYU defeat the Mountain West Conference strikeout leader, James Vermilyea.

"I'm proud of our guys battling and playing nine innings again," said BYU Coach Vance Law.

Vermilyea, who came into tonight's contest with 98 strikeouts this season, passed the century mark, striking out three Cougars to take him to 101 on the year. Vermilyea recorded the loss, giving up 11 earned runs on 14 hits with only one walk in seven innings.

Vermilyea and Cougar ace Jeff Mousser started off the game striking out five hitters between them in the first two innings.

New Mexico crossed the plate first. Catcher Scott Tajima led off the third inning with a double down the left field line, and Mousser hit Matt Young to put runners on first and second. Dusty Young followed with a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third, allowing Todd Stroud to hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the game.

BYU followed with one of its two five-run innings. Five straight Cougars crossed the plate to make the score 5-1. Coughlan made the crucial hit for BYU, beating out an infield single to shortstop and scoring Ryan Chambers from third, the first run for the Cougars. Dave Jensen reached after getting hit by a pitch, and Matt Carson hit a two-RBI double to right field. Itri, not to be outdone, followed with a two-RBI triple to off of the yellow-colored top of the center field wall.

The Lobos stayed in the game with consistent efforts by their league-leading offense. New Mexico scored every inning from the third through the seventh, bring the score to 9-6. Anthony Lovato hit a deep solo home run to right field in the fifth, and five other Lobos hit extra base.

The Cougars regained the lead in the seventh with another five runs on four hits. Doug Jackson led off the inning with a double down the right field line, then advanced to third base on a balk by Vermilyea. Coughlan hit his fourth hit and second RBI of the night. Matt Carson was hit by a pitch, bringing his school record to 27 on his career. Itri walked, loading the bases and summoning Lobo Head Coach Rich Alday to the mound to speak with Vermilyea. But with the bases loaded, one out, and after almost 100 pitches and seven straight balls, Alday stuck with his ace.

Jake Stubblefield followed with a double down the right field line, scoring two and giving the Cougars the lead. Lars Birkeland followed with a base hit to score Stubblefield, bringing the score to 11-9.

"We needed a base hit from Stubbs (Stubblefield) to keep us going," Law said. "It was a bonus to have Lars get a hit on the next play."

Jason Garcia recorded his second win as a Cougar, pitching one inning and allowing two runs. Sam Fernley closed the game for BYU, pitching two innings, allowing no runs on one hit to earn his first save.

Utah and Air Force were postponed due to lightning. With Utah and BYU tied at 14-13 and Air Force trailing by only half a game, the hunt for the No. 2 seed in the MWC Tournament next week is still very much alive. If BYU wins its next two games, they are guaranteed no worse than a solo-share of third place. But if Air Force can defeat Utah at least once this weekend and the Cougars win their next two, BYU will be guaranteed at least a tie for second place.

"We hope we can sweep this weekend," Law said. "It's going to be difficult for Air Force or Utah to sweep the other."

In other MWC action, UNLV defeated conference champions San Diego State 12-1.

The Cougars continue their regular-season finale in game two against New Mexico Friday night at 7 p.m. at Larry H. Miller Field. The series and regular season finale will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. The games can be heard locally on KOVO 960 AM with Brent Norton calling the play by play.

Regardless of seeding in the MWC Tournament next week, BYU will play the night game on Wednesday for opening day at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for the game at 378-BYU1 or 1-800-322-BYU1 or at www.byutickets.com. Tickets range from a VIP Tournament Pass for $75 to a $5 student/senior citizen for an individual game ticket.

The Automated ScoreBook
                       New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ.
               May 16, 2002 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
New Mexico 9 (21-32,10-18 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Young, Matt cf...........  2  1  1  0   1  0  3  0   0
Young, Dusty ss..........  4  1  2  2   0  2  2  1   0
Stroud, Todd lf..........  4  0  1  1   0  1  4  0   3
Cairns, Troy 2b..........  4  0  0  1   0  0  6  3   2
Lovato, Anthony dh.......  5  1  2  2   0  2  0  0   0
Mader, Josh 3b...........  5  1  1  0   0  1  1  2   2
Alexander, Chris 1b......  5  1  3  0   0  0  5  0   0
Salas, Joe rf............  5  2  3  1   0  0  0  0   2
Tajima, Scott c..........  5  2  3  2   0  1  3  2   0
Vermilyea, James p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 Letz, Kevin p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39  9 16  9   1  7 24 10   9
Brigham Young Univ. 11 (23-27-1,14-13 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  5  2  2  0   0  1  3  0   1
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  5  3  4  2   0  0  2  1   0
JENSEN, Dave 1b..........  4  1  0  0   0  1  8  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  3  2  2  2   1  0  1  0   0
ITRI, Rob 3b.............  4  0  1  2   1  0  2  2   2
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  4  1  1  2   0  1  3  3   1
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake dh....  4  1  2  2   0  1  0  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  4  0  2  1   0  0  6  1   0
CHAMBERS, Ryan cf........  4  1  1  0   0  0  2  0   1
MOUSSER, Jeff p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 GARCIA, Jason p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FERNLEY, Sam p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 37 11 15 11   2  4 27  9   6
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 001 212 300 -  9 16  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 005 010 50X - 11 15  1
-------------------------------------------
E - Salas; MOUSSER. DP - BYU Cougars 1. LOB - UNM 9; BYU Cougars 6. 2B -
Young, D.; Stroud; Alexander, C 2; Salas; Tajima; JACKSON; COUGHLAN; CARSON
M.; STUBBLEFIELD; CHAMBERS. 3B - ITRI. HR - Lovato(8). HBP - Young, M.;
JENSEN; CARSON M.. SH - Young, M.; Young, D.. SF - Stroud; Cairns. CS -
Young, D.; COUGHLAN; STUBBLEFIELD.
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Vermilyea, James....  7.0 14 11 11  1  3 33 36
Letz, Kevin.........  1.0  1  0  0  1  1  4  5
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MOUSSER, Jeff.......  6.0 12  7  5  1  6 29 34
GARCIA, Jason.......  1.0  3  2  2  0  1  4  5
FERNLEY, Sam........  2.0  1  0  0  0  0  6  6
Win - GARCIA (2-1).  Loss - Vermilyea (7-8).  Save - FERNLEY (1).
WP - Vermilyea. HBP - by MOUSSER (Young, M.); by Vermilyea (JENSEN); by
Vermilyea (CARSON M.). BK - Vermilyea. PB - Tajima 2; BIRKELAND.
Umpires - HP: Joe Burleson  1B: Mik Hendrickson  3B: Jim Paronto
Start: 7:06   Time: 2:34   Attendance: 1183
Game notes:
Game 1 of 3 in Provo; Utah's game at AFA postponed because of rain today &
they will play a DH at 1:30 Friday.
MOUSSER faced 1 batter in the

A new attendance record will be set this week when BYU baseball hosts New Mexico in the regular season finale.

The Cougars, now 22-27-1 overall, are in a third-place tie with the Air Force Academy at 13-13 in the Mountain West Conference. A sweep over UNM's Lobos could vault BYU into second place, given the right scenario in Utah's games at AFA this week.

BYU is a half-game behind second-place Utah as all teams ready to come to Provo next weekend for the MWC Championships. San Diego State locked up the No. 1 seed over the weekend with the regular season title, but everyone will be looking for the NCAA automatic berth that comes in winning the tournament.

Already BYU is ahead of pace in fans attending games at Miller Park. There have been 20,579 fans in 13 games at Larry H. Miller Field thus far for an average of 1,583 compared to 17,378 in 14 games for an average of 1,241 last year when BYU had the 38th best average in the NCAA last season and ranked 50th in terms of total home attendance as the MWC Champions. The Cougars have a 7-6 record at home thus far this season.

First, the Cougars must take care of business with the Lobos, who bring a 21-31 overall mark and a 10-17 league record to Provo. On Thursday BYU will throw its ace Jeff Mousser (8-4, 4.89) on the mound for the game which starts at 7 p.m. Coach Vance Law is uncertain on his starter for Friday's game also at 7 p.m. On Saturday the Cougars are scheduled to have Paul Jacinto (2-3, 7.06) as the starting pitcher for the game which begins at 1 p.m.

"We need to be playing our best baseball in order to sweep," said Law, "but that is the kind of baseball you want to be playing at the end of the season. Even if things don't work out for us this weekend, it may not matter for the seeding. There is so much parity in our league it doesn't make much difference.

"If we have any hope of playing in the NCAA post-season, we are going to have to win our tournament next week the same way we want to perform this week. We are playing well offensively, but have made some bad plays at times on defense."

Individual baseball game prices at Miller Park are $5 for public and $3 for students, faculty, staff and senior citizens. For groups of 15 or more, there is a special rate of $2 per person. For reserved tickets, phone 801 378-BYU1. All-sport and Cougar Cards must be shown at the ticket office on the game day and redeemed for a reserved seat, based on availability. Tickets are on sale at the ticket office on the north side of Miller Park. VIP and All-Session passes are on sale now for the MWC Tournament at the above number or on the Internet at www.byutickets.com. Individual tournament session passes go on sale on May 15.

The games will be broadcast live locally over KOVO Radio (960 AM). Fans can also read the live webcast of the BYU-UNM games at Game One, Game Two and Game Three.