Falcon Field
Cadet Dr. Air Force Academy CO 80840-9500
U.S.A.F. ACADEMY -- Reliever Nate Fernley picked up his sixth save of the season Friday to lead BYU to an 8-6 victory over the Air Force Academy and break a five-game skid.
Fernley took the mound in the sixth inning after Shane Belliston's double to center field drove in two runs to break a five-all deadlock. Belliston's double was the third consecutive hit of that inning which scored Nate Mathis and Aaron Whitley.
When Fernley relieved Jeff Stone, there was one out with men on the corners. Steve Jones hit Fernley's first pitch back to the mound and he fielded it to start a double play.
With the bases loaded, Jones grounded into his second double play again with second baseman Mathis again in the middle in the eighth inning when Seth King fielded a slow hopper to end that inning.
"Fernley did an outstanding job in a tough spot with men on first and third," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Jeff (Stone) didn't have his best stuff, but he competed."
"We went right out swinging the bats trying to establish the offense first and let them know we are here to score. I've had to be patient with Shane (Belliston) and we think that he's in a good spot right now. I've lowered him in the batting order to take pressure off him."
Belliston led all players, going four-of-five with three RBI. Teammate Craig Peterson added an insurance run with a seventh-inning solo homer. Stone improved his record to 8-4 in striking out five in five and one-third innings.
The Cougars, now 23-20 overall and 11-8 in the Mountain West Conference, play a noon doubleheader on Saturday at Air Force, now 18-23 and 3-14.
The Automated ScoreBookBrigham Young at Air Force Academy
Apr 21, 2000 at Air Force Academy,CO (Falcon Field)
Brigham Young 8 (23-20,11-8 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
WHITLEY, Aaron dh 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
GREENE, Nick ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BELLISTON, Shane cf 5 1 4 3 0 1 2 0 0
DAY, Nick lf 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0
DAVIES, Michael c 4 0 1 1 1 1 7 0 2
CARSON, Matt rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
OBREY, Kainoa 3b 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 0
PETERSON, Craig 1b 4 2 2 1 0 0 9 1 1
HAGUEWOOD, Ty ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
KING, Seth ss 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0
MATHIS, Nate 2b 4 2 2 1 0 0 4 3 1
STONE, Jeff p 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
FERNLEY, Nate p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals...... 39 8 14 8 3 4 27 10 8
Air Force Academy 6 (18-23,3-14 MWC)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
Thiessen cf 5 2 3 1 0 0 0 1 0
Shannon 2b 5 2 3 1 0 0 3 3 0
Phifer rf 2 1 2 1 1 0 4 0 0
Humphrey 1b 4 0 2 3 0 1 10 1 3
Jones 3b 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3
Goldsberry lf 4 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 0
Gornick dh 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
Murphy c 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 0
Kasel ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
LaBasco ss 5 1 1 0 0 0 3 3 4
Kaercher p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Bashore p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals...... 40 6 14 6 2 7 27 11 12
Score by Innings R H E
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Brigham Young....... 131 002 100 - 8 14 3
Air Force Academy... 210 201 000 - 6 14 1
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E - OBREY; KING; STONE; Jones. DP - Cougars 2. LOB - Cougars 8; Falcons 12.
2B - BELLISTON; CARSON; KING; MATHIS; Shannon; Humphrey; Goldsberry. HR -
PETERSON(3). HBP - CARSON; Phifer 2; Humphrey. CS - BELLISTON; DAY.
Brigham Young IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
STONE, Jeff 5.1 11 6 5 2 5 27 31
FERNLEY, Nate 3.2 3 0 0 0 2 13 14
Air Force Academy IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Kaercher 5.1 13 7 6 1 0 28 30
Bashore 3.2 1 1 1 2 4 11 13
Win - STONE (8-4). Loss - Kaercher (5-5). Save - FERNLEY (6).
WP - STONE; Kaercher 2. HB - STONE 2; FERNLEY; Kaercher. PB - Murphy.
Umpires - Home:Rick Castorena 1st:Bill Speck 3rd:Terry Balser
Start: 2:00 Time: 2:35 Attendance: 226
Game: BYU43
Game notes:
Mountain West Conference Game
First game of three-game series
A final out-of-state series in BYU's baseball season pits the Cougars against the Falcons at the Air Force Academy this Friday.
The Cougars, 22-20 overall and 10-8 in the Mountain West Conference, are still in second place, but now tied with San Diego State. Air Force, 18-22 and 3-13, owns league victories over BYU, Utah and UNLV.
The probable BYU pitching rotation will be Jeff Stone (7-4, 5.75)in Friday's game at 2 p.m. Micah Mangrum (5-6, 4.42) is scheduled to start the seven-inning game on Saturday at noon, while in the nightcap Jordan Ophahl (3-0, 3.34) will get his first start in the regular rotation.
Opdahl replaces fellow lefty James Ray (3-2, 5.68) in the rotation and has been impressive in many of his 13 appearances, including three starts in non-conference action.
"We are returning to stressing some of the things that made us successful earlier this season," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "Normally when we score the amount of runs we did last week it has been enough, but our pitchers need to get the ball down in the strike zone again. We are disappointed, but not discouraged. Air Force has some good pitchers. Traditionally, we don't play well right after finals, but we hope to win the first game and have that carry us on to an advantage in the series. "
Leading the Cougars not only with a current seven-game hitting streak, but also with 35 RBI, 12 doubles and nine homers is freshman third baseman Kainoa Obrey. Fellow freshman Matt Carson is leading the team with a .381 batting average. Carson, an outfielder, and catcher Michael Davies are tied in being hit by pitches 11 times each, one off tying the school record.
Prior to final exams the Cougars struggled, losing all three games last week when they hosted UNLV. This is a critical week in the MWC race with SDSU hosting league-leading New Mexico.
The first two BYU games at AFA will be broadcast live over KSRR Radio (1400 AM) locally.
