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PROVO -- Delivered with a dramatic two-run walk-off home run by third baseman Alex Wolfe, BYU earned a 6-4 victory over rival Utah Saturday to claim the baseball Deseret First Duel title.

“Winning the Deseret First Duel is important to us,” BYU coach Vance Law said. “The guys fought hard and played all 27 outs. They showed great character.”

The Cougars improve to 18-20 on the year and 6-9 in Mountain West Conference play with the victory while Utah falls to 19-18 overall and 7-8 in MWC action.

If the season-high crowd of 1,826 fans attending Saturday’s decisive battle for the baseball Deseret First Duel came to witness great baseball drama, they got their wish. The contest was a back-and-forth duel in every sense and ended with the home-standing Cougars celebrating in full force at home plate after scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to come back for the win.

Entering their final at-bat trailing 4-3, the Cougars put five batters at the plate to produce the three runs that would provide the winning tally. Shortstop Austin Hall started with a single to right and stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position. With two outs, catcher C.J. Ayoso knocked the first pitch up the middle to send Hall home from third to even the scoreboard.

The Cougar faithful were still enjoying Ayoso’s clutch performance when Wolfe brought the crowd to its feet and his teammates from the dugout with a one-one-count opposite-field blast over the leftfield wall to clear the bases. The win gave BYU the Duel's baseball portion for the third straight year over the Utes.

“That was a huge home run,” Law said. “After almost three hours of misery, it was 30-seconds of ecstasy.”

Utah got on the board first in the top of the second with one run, but BYU manufactured two runs on three singles as Ryan Bernal, Jonathan Cluff and Chase Frampton all found holes in the Ute defense.

The Cougars nearly put another run across the plate in the bottom of the third when Sean McNaughton sent a fly ball into right field with one out and runners on the corners. Brandon Relf tagged from third but was thrown out at home by Utah’s Rick Cornu for a disputed double play.

The fourth inning held some promise as well for the Cougars as Cluff followed Bernal’s leadoff hit-by-pitch walk with a double down the left field line. The BYU bats, however, were unable to deliver as Utah got the next three batters to get out of the jam.

Utah reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth when leftfielder Nick Gumeson sent a shot over the rightfield wall to bring in catcher C.J. Cron, who started the inning with a single. After a ground-ball out to Hall at shortstop was followed with a Utah single, Cougar starter Chris Capper produced another grounder that Hall and Relf turned for a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Cougar centerfielder Stephen Wells evened the tally in the bottom of the seventh when he blasted a one-out solo home run well over the fence in right-center to chase Utah pitcher Bryn Card from the game. Utah, however, responded with a run in the top-half of the next inning to get the upper hand at 4-3 and force Capper from the contest.

On in relief, Kevin Sloan shut down the Utes in the top half of the ninth to set up the come-from-behind final at-bat for the Cougars. Sloan earned the win to improve to 7-0 on the season. It was Sloan's second win this week over Utah.

Ayoso, Cluff and Wolfe each delivered two hits on the day to highlight the offensive production. BYU earned its six runs on 11 hits while Utah was able to cross the plate four times on its 12 hits.

The Cougars take a break from league action as they play next week in Seattle against the universities of Seattle and Portland.

Utah at BYU
Apr 24, 2010 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
Utah 4 (19-18,7-8 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
YAGI, Tyler 2b...........  3  0  1  0   1  0  1  1   2
CORNU, Rick rf...........  5  0  0  0   0  2  2  1   0
KUROCZKO, Nick 3b........  5  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   3
CRON, C.J. c.............  4  1  2  0   0  0  8  1   1
GUMESON, Nik lf..........  4  2  2  2   0  0  4  0   1
SHARRAR, Jo Jo dh........  4  1  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
MOORMAN, Mark 1b.........  4  0  2  0   0  1  5  1   0
BELTRAN, Michael ss......  4  0  2  2   0  1  2  1   0
BLANC, Cooper cf.........  3  0  1  0   0  1  3  0   0
CARD, Bryn p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 ADAMS, Zach p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 36  4 12  4   1  5 26  6   8
BYU 6 (18-20,6-9 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
RELF, Brandon 2b.........  3  0  1  0   2  0  3  2   0
AYOSO, Bryce c...........  5  1  2  1   0  2  5  0   0
WOLFE, Alex 3b...........  5  1  2  2   0  1  0  1   1
McNAUGHTON, Sean lf......  3  0  0  0   1  0  1  1   2
 HANCOCK, Alex pr/lf.....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
BERNAL, Ryan 1b..........  2  1  1  0   0  1 10  2   0
CLUFF, Jonathan rf.......  4  1  2  0   0  1  1  0   0
FRAMPTON, Chase dh.......  4  0  1  1   0  1  0  0   1
HALL, Austin ss..........  4  1  1  1   0  1  5  5   0
WELLS, Stephen cf........  4  1  1  1   0  0  1  0   3
CAPPER, Chris p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
 SLOAN, Kevin p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  6 11  6   3  7 27 13   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Utah................ 010 002 010 -  4 12  1
BYU................. 020 000 103 -  6 11  2
-------------------------------------------
Note: 2 outs, 0 runners LOB when the game ended.
E - BLANC(3); WOLFE(12); CAPPER(2). DP - UT 1; Cougars 2. LOB - UT 8;
Cougars 7. 2B - GUMESON(5); BELTRAN(6); AYOSO(13); CLUFF(12). HR -
GUMESON(9); WOLFE(10); WELLS(3). HBP - BLANC; BERNAL. SH - YAGI(3);
BERNAL(4). SB - HALL(7). CS - RELF(2).
Utah                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
CARD, Bryn..........  6.1  8  3  3  1  3 25 27  91
ADAMS, Zach.........  2.1  3  3  3  2  4  9 12  55
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
CAPPER, Chris.......  7.1 11  4  4  1  4 32 33  97
SLOAN, Kevin........  1.2  1  0  0  0  1  4  6  26
Win - SLOAN (7-0).  Loss - ADAMS (1-2).  Save - None.
HBP - by CARD (BERNAL); by SLOAN (BLANC). Inherited runners/scored: SLOAN 2/1.
Pitches/strikes: CARD 91/56; ADAMS 55/34; CAPPER 97/68; SLOAN 26/17.
Umpires - HP: Jason Rogers  1B: John Cortez  3B: Mik Hendrickson
Start: 1:02 pm   Time: 2:37   Attendance: 1826
Weather: 57 degrees, sunny
Utah 1st - YAGI singled to left field (2-1). YAGI advanced to second on
a throwing error by p. CORNU struck out looking (2-2). KUROCZKO flied out to cf
(0-1). CRON flied out to rf (2-1). 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
BYU 1st - RELF walked (3-2). RELF out at second c to ss, caught
stealing. AYOSO struck out looking (1-2). WOLFE out at first 1b to p (0-1).
0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Utah 2nd - GUMESON doubled down the lf line (0-0). SHARRAR reached on a
fielder's choice (0-1); GUMESON out at second ss unassisted. MOORMAN singled to
right field (1-0); SHARRAR advanced to second. BELTRAN doubled down the lf
line, RBI (1-1); MOORMAN advanced to third; SHARRAR scored. BLANC struck out
looking (0-2). YAGI flied out to lf (0-1). 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2
LOB.
BYU 2nd - McNAUGHTON lined out to 2b (2-1). BERNAL singled to center
field (0-0). CLUFF singled to shortstop (0-0); BERNAL advanced to second.
FRAMPTON singled up the middle, advanced to second, RBI (1-1); CLUFF advanced
to third; BERNAL scored. HALL grounded out to 1b unassisted, RBI (0-1);
FRAMPTON advanced to third; CLUFF scored. WELLS flied out to lf (2-1). 2
runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah 3rd - CORNU struck out looking (1-2). KUROCZKO grounded out to 1b
unassisted (0-0). CRON reached on a fielding error by 3b (2-2). GUMESON
grounded out to p (0-0). 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
BYU 3rd - RELF singled to left field (3-2). AYOSO popped up to ss (2-2).
WOLFE singled to center field (3-1); RELF advanced to second, advanced to third
on a fielding error by cf. McNAUGHTON flied into double play rf to c (0-0);
RELF out on the play. 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Utah 4th - SHARRAR singled up the middle (0-0). MOORMAN grounded into
double play ss to 2b to 1b (3-2); SHARRAR out on the play. BELTRAN struck out
swinging (1-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 4th - BERNAL hit by pitch (3-2). CLUFF doubled down the lf line
(1-0); BERNAL advanced to third. FRAMPTON flied out to cf (0-0). HALL struck
out swinging (0-2). WELLS fouled out to lf (2-0). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2
LOB.
Utah 5th - BLANC grounded out to 1b unassisted (1-1). YAGI walked (3-2).
CORNU fouled out to 1b (0-0). KUROCZKO grounded out to p unassisted (0-1). 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 5th - RELF flied out to cf (2-2). AYOSO doubled down the lf line
(1-0). WOLFE flied out to lf (1-0). McNAUGHTON flied out to lf (3-2). 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah 6th - CRON singled to right field (1-1). GUMESON homered to right
field, 2 RBI (1-2); CRON scored. SHARRAR grounded out to ss (0-0). MOORMAN
singled up the middle (1-1). BELTRAN grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b
(0-0); MOORMAN out on the play. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 6th - BERNAL struck out looking (1-2). CLUFF grounded out to ss
(3-1). FRAMPTON grounded out to 2b (0-0). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Utah 7th - BLANC singled to shortstop (0-1). YAGI reached on a fielder's
choice (1-2); BLANC out at second 1b to ss. CORNU popped up to ss (1-2).
KUROCZKO grounded out to ss (2-1). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 7th - HALL popped up to 1b (0-0). WELLS homered to right center, RBI
(0-1). ADAMS to p for CARD. RELF walked (3-2). AYOSO struck out swinging (2-2).
WOLFE struck out swinging (1-2). 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah 8th - CRON singled to center field (2-1). GUMESON reached on a
fielder's choice (0-0); CRON out at second p to ss. SHARRAR singled up the
middle (0-0); GUMESON advanced to second. SLOAN to p for CAPPER. MOORMAN struck
out looking (2-2). BELTRAN singled to left field, RBI (2-2); SHARRAR advanced
to second, out at second lf to 3b to ss; GUMESON scored. 1 run, 3 hits, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 8th - McNAUGHTON walked (3-2). HANCOCK pinch ran for McNAUGHTON.
BERNAL grounded out to p, SAC, bunt (0-0); HANCOCK advanced to second. CLUFF
struck out swinging (1-2). FRAMPTON struck out swinging (1-2). 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Utah 9th - HANCOCK to lf. BLANC hit by pitch (2-2). YAGI out at first 1b
to 2b, SAC, bunt (1-0); BLANC advanced to second. CORNU grounded out to ss
(0-2); BLANC advanced to third. KUROCZKO grounded out to 1b unassisted (2-1).
0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 9th - HALL singled through the right side (2-1). HALL stole second.
WELLS flied out to cf (3-2). RELF flied out to rf (2-2); HALL advanced to
third. AYOSO singled up the middle, RBI (0-0); HALL scored. WOLFE homered to
left field, 2 RBI (1-1); AYOSO scored. 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Standings, bragging rights and pride are on the line this week as BYU's baseball team hosts Utah in the only three games the teams have during the regular season.

On Thursday BYU, now 16-19 overall and 4-8 in the Mountain West Conference, hosts the Utes at 6:30 p.m. Friday's contest starts at 6 p.m., because it is the only game of the three to be televised live by BYUtv. Saturday's tilt starts at 1 p.m.

Utah brings an 18-16 overall record and a 6-6 league mark into the series. In addition to MWC standings, at stake is the baseball portion of the Deseret First Duel. While BYU has claimed the overall Duel with its insurmountable 40-14 lead, the Cougars are hoping to defend the baseball portion of that Duel which they have won the past two years.

"This is a big series and we need to get back on track again and play the way which we are capable," said BYU coach Vance Law.

Law has tweaked BYU's pitching rotation for the series. Sophomore Matthew Neil (3-4, 5.81) will be the Cougars' first pitcher in the rotation. The game two starter has changed to freshman lefty Mark Anderson (1-0, 6.08). Saturday's starter will be freshman Chris Capper (2-0, 5.31).

BYU reliever David McKnight is graduating this week in recreation management. Others graduating this week include former players J.T. Musso, Collin Fanning and Kiko Hermosillo. McKnight is one of 45 players named to the midseason watch list for the sixth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award.

For more infomation please see the multi-page PDF document at the top of this page.

Deseret First Duel
Standings to Date
BYU                   44
Utah                  15.5
BYU Points Thus Far
Women's Soccer         6
Football              10
Women's Basketball    10
Men's Basketball      10
Women's Swimming       1
Softball               3
Men's Baseball         3
Men's Tennis           1
Utah Points Thus Far
Women's Volleyball      6
Men's Swimming          1
Women's Gymnastics      6
Women's Tennis          1
Men's Baseball          1.5
Contests Remaining
Softball                1.5
Deseret First Duel Prior Years
2007-08 BYU  (BYU won baseball 38-26 in runs, series tied 2-2)
2008-09 Utah (BYU won baseball, 5 games to 1)
2009-10 BYU (BYU won baseball, 2 games to 1)