Sam Suplizio Field
Lincoln Park Grand Junction CO 81501
GRAND JUNCTION -- Catcher Rion Sundloff's grand slam homer Friday led Mesa State College to a 14-4 victory over BYU.
Sundloff, a junior from Salt Lake City who transferred from SLCC, homered in the bottom of the fourth inning and chased lefty Jeff Stone from the mound. The Cougars had been up 1-0 when Shane Belliston hit a lead-off homer to start the game against the Division II Mavericks.
BYU also got home runs from Kainoa Obrey and David Rock. Rock played in left field in place of Stanford transfer Nick Day, who did not make the trip because of a wrist injury. Obrey led all Cougars with three hits, while Sundloff had three hits for MSC and teammate Chad Rocco had four.
Stone, now 1-2, was relieved by Nate Fernley, who put out the fire, but by then the Mavericks had taken a 7-1 lead. The Cougars also used relievers Jahseam George, Jordan Opdahl and Sky Grant.
BYU's record falls to 3-7, while MSC is 2-5. The Mavericks host the Cougars for a Saturday doubleheader.
The Automated ScoreBookBrigham Young Univ. at Mesa State College
Feb 18, 2000 at Grand Junction, CO
Brigham Young Univ. 4 (3-7)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Belliston cf............. 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Greene ph............... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peterson 1b.............. 5 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 4
Davies dh................ 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Obrey 3b................. 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 2 0
Carson rf................ 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1
Rock lf.................. 4 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 1
King ss.................. 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
Perry ss................ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Cloward c................ 1 0 0 0 2 0 6 1 0
Whitley ph.............. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Snow c.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Mathis 2b................ 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 3
Stone p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Fernley p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
George p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Opdahl p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grant p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 37 4 11 3 5 3 24 11 12
Mesa State College 14 (2-5)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Schena cf................ 6 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0
Rocco ss................. 6 1 4 2 0 1 1 7 0
Moreland 3b.............. 5 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 0
Branin rf................ 4 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 4
Helmstaedter rf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Sundloff c............... 4 2 3 3 1 0 2 3 0
Pietrack dh.............. 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 3
Kesler 1b................ 2 4 1 0 3 0 15 0 0
Gusich lf................ 4 2 2 4 1 1 0 0 0
Halcomb 2b............... 4 2 3 2 0 0 1 6 1
Wareham ph.............. 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2
Gilpatrick p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Brown p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lopez p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 39 14 16 12 9 7 27 18 10
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 020 100 - 4 11 2
Mesa State College.. 010 625 00X - 14 16 0
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E - Belliston(1); King(4). DP - BYU 1. LOB - BYU 12; Mesa State 10. 2B -
Rock(2); King(3); Rocco(3); Gusich 2(2). 3B - Halcomb 2(2). HR -
Belliston(1); Obrey(2); Rock(1); Sundloff(1). HBP - Carson. SB - Schena(2).
CS - Pietrack(1).
Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Stone............... 3.2 8 7 7 5 2 18 23
Fernley............. 1.1 3 2 2 1 2 7 8
George.............. 0.1 4 5 5 2 1 5 7
Opdahl.............. 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Grant............... 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 7 8
Mesa State College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Gilpatrick.......... 6.0 8 3 3 4 3 25 30
Brown............... 2.0 2 1 1 0 0 8 8
Lopez............... 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 4 5
Win - Gilpatrick (1-1). Loss - Stone (1-2). Save - None.
WP - George(1); Opdahl(3). HB - Gilpatrick.
Umpires -
Start: 2:00 Time: 3:00 Attendance: 187
Fresh off its upset at second-ranked Alabama, BYU's baseball team is now closer to home at Grand Junction, Colo. Mesa State, 1-5, hosts BYU, 3-6, in a three-game series this weekend.
The three-game series with Mesa begins Friday at 2 p.m. with Jeff Stone scheduled to take the mound. Micah Mangrum (2-1, 3.38) will start Saturday's doubleheader at noon, with James Ray (0-2, 5.00) scheduled to be on the hill in the nightcap.
On President's Day, Feb. 21, the Cougars start a three-game series at the University of Southern Colorado, 4-4. Monday's doubleheader begins at noon vs. USC in Pueblo, Colo., while Tuesday's single game is at noon. None of the games will be broadcast.
BYU leads the series with Mesa State, 76-12. The Cougars also lead the series with Southern Colorado, 19-6.
"We continue to work on our fundamentals, an area where we haven't been sharp," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "I'm pleased with the improvement of our pitching staff. Micah Mangrum is pitching with great confidence and poise. We have a feeling for where we want our program to be after Alabama. There we got our hitters in situations where they executed when we needed them. We are hoping Nick Day (wrist sprain) will be ready to play. Our goal is to win the next three series, so we won't experiment to the point of losing a game. It shouldn't matter who we play, whether they are ranked or unranked."
Mangrum did not give up any walks in facing 25 batters for six innings in BYU's 8-3 upset over Alabama. The loss snapped Alabama's 15-game home winning streak. Reliever Nate Fernley worked himself out of a seventh inning jam with runners on second and third by striking out three batters in a row to earn his first save of the season. He recorded six strikeouts in three innings. Designated hitter Michael Davies hit a three-run homer in the first inning of that victory. The Crimson Tide won the opener, 11-1, and hung on to win the third game, although BYU closed the gap to 8-6 in the eighth.
The 18,630 fans who attended the BYU-Alabama games helped set a new three-game series record for the Crimson Tide, surpassing the old mark of 15,351 in 1997 with three sellout crowds of 5,177 against LSU. The crowds of 6,242, 6,222 and 6,166 are the fifth, sixth, and seventh best crowds in BYU history.
The current Cougar hitting streak leader is Craig Peterson with seven games. Mangrum was named Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week for his victory at No. 19 Arizona.
In addition to the upset over Alabama, last week was a big one for the Cougars with the announcement for BYU's new baseball/softball complex to be called Miller Park in honor of Larry H. and Gail Miller, who made a significant financial contribution toward the facility. The baseball field will be named Larry H. Miller Field.
