PROVO, Utah -- Matthew Neil pitched a complete-game shutout Saturday as BYU defeated New Mexico, 1-0, in the finale of a three-game series at Larry H. Miller Field.

“One thing coach said to me before the game was pitch smarter not harder, so I was just focusing on working the edges of the plate,” said Neil, a senior right-hander who was clocked as fast as 92 mph. “This was my first complete game shut-out. But, this game was an all around effort. Two of my pitches were working until my slider came back. I trust the guys behind me.”

Highlights of the game included Neil’s 128-pitch, six-strikeout performance, as well as Ryan Bernal’s RBI that won the game for the Cougars.

"Neil did an unbelievable job to give us a chance that we needed," said BYU coach Vance Law. "It doesn't happen very often with metal bats. He’s had better days with better stuff, but he has learned how to be tough on the mound. He competes as well as anyone we've got. He got ahead of the majority of hitters."

While both teams were unable score in the first three innings, the bottom of the fourth provided a change of pace. Dillon Robinson recorded the Cougars’ first single of the night, before a triple from Bernal allowed Robinson to round the bases for the only run of the game.

New Mexico came close to scoring in the top of the sixth, but with two outs and two on base, Neil got designated hitter John Twichell to fly out to Jaycob Brugman in right field to end the threat.

UNM came close to tying the ballgame again after consecutive singles in the ninth, but Austin Hall threw Twichell out at the plate for out two. Jacob Nelson then grounded to Robinson at third base who tagged pinch runner Logan Lippert to end the game.

"Hall's play was big off the run to throw him out at the plate," said Law.

Unfortunately Hall’s play, and a great pitching performance by Neil, was overshadowed by fisticuffs after the game, before the coaches and umpires quickly broke up the exchange.

Next up, the Cougars travel to Pullman to face-off with Washington State on Monday and Tuesday, before returning home to host TCU in an important series that begins on Thursday.

New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ.
Apr 23, 2011 at Provo, Utah (Larry H Miller Field)
New Mexico 0 (12-28,7-8 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
STINER, Kyle 2b..........  4  0  2  0   0  0  2  4   0
CAMPBELL, Luke lf........  4  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
GARVER, Mitch c..........  4  0  0  0   0  2  7  0   2
PETERSON, DJ 3b..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   1
TWICHELL, John dh........  4  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   2
PORRAS, Trey rf..........  3  0  1  0   1  1  0  0   0
 LIPPERT, Logan pr.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
GRANT, Quay ss...........  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  5   0
NELSON, Jacob 1b.........  4  0  0  0   0  0 10  1   3
WILSON, Sam cf...........  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
OLSON, Richard p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   0
Totals................... 34  0  6  0   1  6 24 11   8
Brigham Young Univ. 1 (20-16,7-7 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BRUGMAN, Jaycob rf.......  4  0  0  0   0  2  1  1   0
WELLS, Stephen cf........  4  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
ROBINSON, Dillon 3b......  2  1  1  0   1  1  1  1   0
BERNAL, Ryan lf..........  2  0  1  1   1  0  2  0   0
HALL, Austin 1b..........  3  0  0  0   0  3  8  2   3
GUENTHER, Wes c..........  3  0  1  0   0  0  6  0   0
HANCOCK, Alex dh.........  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
NIELSEN, Dane 2b.........  2  0  0  0   1  0  2  2   0
LAW, Andrew ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  0  3  5   1
NEIL, Matthew p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
Totals................... 25  1  3  1   3  7 27 11   4
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 000 000 000 -  0  6  0
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 100 00X -  1  3  2
-------------------------------------------
E - ROBINSON(8); LAW(15). DP - NM 1. LOB - NM 8; BYU 4. 3B - BERNAL(4). SH -
HANCOCK(2). SB - CAMPBELL(1).
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
OLSON, Richard......  8.0  3  1  1  3  7 25 29
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
NEIL, Matthew.......  9.0  6  0  0  1  6 34 35
Win - NEIL (4-2).  Loss - OLSON (2-4).  Save - None.
WP - NEIL(3).
Umpires - HP: John Cortez  1B: Wm. Van Raaphorst  3B: Bradley Hungerford
Start: 12:04 pm   Time: 1:58   Attendance: 701
Weather: overcast, 49 degrees
Game notes:
New Mexico starters: 11/2b STINER; 18/lf CAMPBELL; 10/c GARVER; 33/3b PETERSON;
25/dh TWICHELL; 40/rf PORRAS; 13/ss GRANT; 19/1b NELSON; 32/cf WILSON; 16/p
OLSON;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 4/rf BRUGMAN; 5/cf WELLS; 3/3b ROBINSON; 10/lf
BERNAL; 26/1b HALL; 9/c GUENTHER; 7/dh HANCOCK; 16/2b NIELSEN; 6/ss LAW; 36/p
NEIL;
New Mexico 1st - STINER flied out to lf. CAMPBELL singled to shortstop.
GARVER struck out looking. CAMPBELL stole second. PETERSON struck out swinging.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - BRUGMAN struck out swinging. WELLS grounded
out to 1b unassisted. ROBINSON struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 2nd - TWICHELL grounded out to ss. PORRAS walked. GRANT
grounded out to ss; PORRAS advanced to second. NELSON grounded out to ss. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - BERNAL fouled out to 2b. HALL struck out
swinging. GUENTHER flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 3rd - WILSON flied out to cf. STINER singled to center field.
CAMPBELL struck out swinging. GARVER reached on a fielder's choice; STINER out
at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - HANCOCK grounded out to 2b. NIELSEN walked.
LAW grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b; NIELSEN out on the play. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 4th - PETERSON flied out to cf. TWICHELL grounded out to 1b
unassisted. PORRAS grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - BRUGMAN out at first 1b to p. WELLS grounded
out to 2b. ROBINSON singled to shortstop. BERNAL tripled to left center, RBI;
ROBINSON scored. HALL struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
New Mexico 5th - GRANT flied out to lf. NELSON grounded out to 2b.
WILSON grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - GUENTHER singled to first base. HANCOCK
grounded out to p, SAC, bunt; GUENTHER advanced to second. NIELSEN grounded out
to ss; GUENTHER advanced to third. LAW grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 6th - STINER reached on a throwing error by ss. STINER
advanced to second on a wild pitch. CAMPBELL popped up to ss. GARVER struck out
swinging. PETERSON reached on a fielding error by 3b; STINER advanced to third.
TWICHELL flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - BRUGMAN fouled out to 3b. WELLS flied out to
lf. ROBINSON walked. BERNAL walked; ROBINSON advanced to second. HALL struck
out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
New Mexico 7th - PORRAS struck out looking. GRANT struck out swinging.
NELSON out at first 1b to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - GUENTHER popped up to p. HANCOCK struck out
looking. NIELSEN grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 8th - WILSON singled up the middle. STINER singled, out at
second rf to 3b to ss; WILSON advanced to third. CAMPBELL grounded out to ss.
GARVER lined out to ss. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 8th - LAW grounded out to ss. BRUGMAN struck out
swinging. WELLS grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 9th - PETERSON popped up to 2b. TWICHELL singled to right
field. PORRAS singled to left field; TWICHELL advanced to third. LIPPERT pinch
ran for PORRAS. GRANT reached on a fielder's choice; LIPPERT advanced to
second; TWICHELL out at home 1b to p. NELSON reached on a fielder's choice;
GRANT advanced to second; LIPPERT out at third 3b unassisted. 0 runs, 2
hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

A non-league game with Utah and a three-game conference series with New Mexico will be hosted by BYU’s baseball team starting Tuesday.

Cougar freshman Desmond Poulson (3-0, 6.46) will face Utah senior Stephen Streich (0-1, 7.16) on the mound in Tuesday’s game televised live by BYUtv at 6 p.m. Utah has a 16-13 overall record and moved into second place in the Mountain West Conference at 9-4. BYU is 18-14 overall and 6-5 in the MWC.

For the fourth time in over 50 years, BYU has a non-league game with Utah. Utah won the past three 9-7 in 2008, 8-4 in 2007 and 5-4 in 2006. Next season several non-league games are on tap for BYU vs. Utah.

“Every game is critical this week,” said BYU coach Vance Law. “We are facing a tough Utah team and I won’t discount it because it is non-conference, it’s still Utah. We need to move in the league standings and New Mexico isn’t happy they were swept by Utah. Plus we are dealing with final exams and graduation.”

Four current players including Ryan Bernal, Andrew Law Andrew, Jared Miller and Blake Torgerson are graduating this week. Four former BYU baseball players are also graduating, Sean McNaughton, Brandon Michon, Brandon Relf and Kevin Sloan.

The first two games against New Mexico, 10-27 and 5-7, on Thursday and Friday will also be at 6 p.m., at Miller Park with sophomore righthanders Taylor Cole (3-2, 2.86) and Chris Capper (3-2, 3.62) starting as BYU’s pitchers, respectively. Saturday’s BYU-UNM game stars at 1 p.m.

BYU has clinched the overall Deseret Duel Trophy for the third time, but the baseball portion of the Duel is still in question. Utah’s baseball team holds a 2-1 advantage going into next week’s non-league game on Tuesday in Provo. The Utes have a 26-18 advantage in the run differential, which could play a factor if the two teams tie--the remaining game is worth 1.5 points. Currently BYU leads in the overall Duel points, 29.5 to 22.