Cougars Tie School Record with 12th Straight Win

PROVO -- Led by Jennifer Whiteley's three hits and an impressive three-hit shutout by Christie Zinanti, BYU tied a school record with its 12th consecutive victory by rolling over Utah 8-0 Friday at Gail Miller Field.

With the win, BYU improves to 3-0 against Utah this year and owns a Mountain West Conference-leading 9-2 record and 32-16 overall mark. The Utes fall to 22-21-1 and 2-9 in the MWC. The two rivals meet again Saturday at 2 p.m. at Miller Park.

"I'm really proud of the way we found ways to score tonight," said BYU head coach Gordon Eakin. "We're playing really confidently. When we get a pitcher that can shut down an opponent and then get our bats going, we're a pretty dominant team."

The Cougars got off to a good start with Cortney Nix-Clark and Whiteley each getting on base in BYU's first at-bats in the bottom of the first. After a double steal advanced both runners, Clark crossed the plate on Emi Snow's ground out to short before an Andrea Ramirez single to center brought home Whiteley for the second run of the inning.

After leaving a runner stranded in the second, the Cougars left two on the base paths in the third inning despite getting some nice production again from the top of their lineup. Clark laced a sharp single to center to start the inning for BYU and then advanced into scoring position on Whiteley's sacrifice bunt. The Cougars placed runners at the corners with only one out after Jodi Norton reached first when Ute first baseman Kara Foster dropped a perfect throw from shortstop Staci Hemingway. However, BYU wasn't able to put a run on the scoreboard as Snow was caught looking and Ramirez popped up to Hemingway.

Leading off the fourth for the Cougars, Dani Urincho-Snow saw her patience at the plate pay off as she drove the ninth pitch of her full-count at-bat deep over the leftfield fence for her fifth round-tripper of the season. The blast increased the team's school record to 70 base-clearing shots this season and extended BYU's streak of consecutive games with a home run to 11. The Cougars added an unearned run before the inning was finished when Whiteley ripped a single to right-center to advance Clark and score Gonzales, who had reached earlier on a fielding error on Ute third baseman Hailey Davenport.

Zinanti kept the Utes off balance at the plate with a strong pitching performance over the first five innings. After giving up a single to Diana Phillips to lead off the game, Zinanti retired 15 of the next 17 Ute batters before Phillips got Utah's second hit of the game by beating out an infield single to lead off the sixth. Zinanti sent 10 consecutive Utes back to the dugout during the stretch, striking out the side in the third and the fifth innings as part of three consecutive one-two-three campaigns.

"Zinanti pitched really well," said Eakin. "To have 10 strikeouts against a very good-hitting Utah team is huge."

Utah's only serious threat to score came in the sixth. After Phillips used her speed to reach first, she advanced to third on a single to left by Davenport. But with Ute runners on second and third with only one out, Zinanti struck out Hemingway and got Andrea Hoffman to ground out to third to get out of the inning without giving up a run.

In the bottom of the sixth the Cougar offense secured the shutout for Zinanti as eight batters came to the plate and four returned to touch it after taking their turn on the base paths. When Norton and Snow each raced home from third on consecutive passed balls the Utes lost their opportunity to come to bat in the seventh as the game was called due to the eight-run mercy rule.

Whiteley went 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs and two RBI while Clark and Ramirez added to BYU's nine-hit evening with two singles apiece. Phillips and Davenport were the only Utes to reach base as a result of their bat.

Zinanti struck out 10 batters while improving her record to 14-6 with the win. Utah's starter Karina Cannon pitched five-and-two-thirds innings in the loss, falling to 6-7 on the season.

University of Utah at Brigham Young Univer
Apr 27, 2007 at Provo, UT (Gail Miller Field)
University of Utah 0 (22-21-1,2-9)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
PHILLIPS cf..............  3  0  2  0   0  1  1  0   0
KELLER 2b................  2  0  0  0   0  2  1  1   0
DAVENPORT 3b.............  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
 DECKER pr...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
HEMINGWAY ss.............  2  0  0  0   0  1  2  3   0
HOFFMAN c................  3  0  0  0   0  1  5  2   4
CROUSE lf................  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
FOSTER 1b................  2  0  0  0   0  1  8  0   0
MEDINA dp................  1  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   0
MATTHEWS rf..............  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   1
CANNON p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 DYER p..................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 20  0  3  0   1 10 17  8   5
Brigham Young Univer 8 (32-16,9-2)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cortney Nix-Clark c......  3  1  2  0   1  0  6  4   0
Jennifer Whiteley lf.....  3  2  3  2   0  0  0  0   0
Jodi Norton ss...........  4  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
Emi Snow rf..............  3  1  0  1   0  1  1  0   0
Andrea Ramirez dp........  3  0  2  2   1  0  0  0   2
 Jana Anderson pr........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Daniela Urincho 1b.......  3  1  1  1   0  1  9  0   0
Tracee Hoch 2b...........  2  0  0  0   1  0  1  0   1
Angeline Quiocho 3b......  3  1  1  0   0  2  0  3   0
Monica Gonzales cf.......  2  1  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
Christie Zinanti p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 26  8  9  6   3  5 18  9   7
Score by Innings                R  H  E
---------------------------------------
University of Utah.. 000 000 -  0  3  3
Brigham Young Univer 200 204 -  8  9  1
---------------------------------------
Note: 2 outs, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.
E - DAVENPORT 2; FOSTER; WHITELEY. LOB - Utes 5; BYU Cougars 7. HR -
URINCHO. HBP - HEMINGWAY; SNOW. SH - KELLER; WHITELEY; GONZALES. SB -
NIX-CLARK; WHITELEY; ANDERSON; HOCH. CS - RAMIREZ.
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CANNON..............  5.2  9  8  4  2  5 26 31
DYER................  0.0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1
Brigham Young Univer   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Christie Zinanti....  6.0  3  0  0  1 10 20 23
Win - ZINANTI (14-6).  Loss - CANNON (6-7).  Save - None.
HBP - by ZINANTI (HEMINGWAY); by CANNON (SNOW). PB - HOFFMAN 2.
Umpires - HP: Dan Ringsby  1B: Michael Brady  3B: Brett Higgins
Start: 6:00   Time: 2 hrs   Attendance: 730
DYER faced 1 batter in the 6th.
University of Utah starters: 20/cf PHILLIPS; 25/2b KELLER; 14/3b DAVENPORT;
19/ss HEMINGWAY; 13/c HOFFMAN; 3/lf CROUSE; 12/1b FOSTER; 9/dp MEDINA; 4/rf
MATTHEWS; 16/p CANNON;
Brigham Young Univer starters: 10/c NIX-CLARK; 3/lf WHITELEY; 8/ss NORTON;
18/rf SNOW; 31/dp RAMIREZ; 22/1b URINCHO; 4/2b HOCH; 33/3b QUIOCHO; 24/cf
GONZALES; 14/p ZINANTI;
University of Utah 1st - PHILLIPS singled. KELLER grounded out to 3b,
SAC, bunt; PHILLIPS advanced to second. DAVENPORT grounded out to 3b. HEMINGWAY
hit by pitch. HOFFMAN struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2
LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 1st - NIX-CLARK walked. WHITELEY singled; NIX-CLARK
advanced to second. WHITELEY stole second; NIX-CLARK stole third. NORTON struck
out looking. SNOW grounded out to ss, RBI; WHITELEY advanced to third;
NIX-CLARK scored. RAMIREZ singled, RBI; WHITELEY scored. RAMIREZ out at second
c to ss, caught stealing. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
University of Utah 2nd - CROUSE struck out swinging. FOSTER popped up to
2b. MEDINA walked. MATTHEWS grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 2nd - URINCHO flied out to cf. HOCH walked. HOCH
stole second. QUIOCHO struck out swinging. GONZALES grounded out to p. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 3rd - PHILLIPS struck out swinging, out at first c to
1b. KELLER struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. DAVENPORT struck out
looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 3rd - NIX-CLARK singled. WHITELEY grounded out to
c, SAC, bunt; NIX-CLARK advanced to second. NORTON reached on an error by 1b;
NIX-CLARK advanced to third. SNOW struck out looking. RAMIREZ popped up to ss.
0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
University of Utah 4th - HEMINGWAY flied out to cf. HOFFMAN flied out to
rf. CROUSE grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 4th - URINCHO homered, RBI. HOCH grounded out to 1b
unassisted, interference. QUIOCHO struck out looking. GONZALES reached on an
error by 3b. NIX-CLARK singled; GONZALES advanced to second. WHITELEY singled,
RBI; NIX-CLARK advanced to third; GONZALES scored, unearned. NORTON popped up
to 2b. 2 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
University of Utah 5th - FOSTER struck out swinging. MEDINA struck out
swinging. MATTHEWS struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 5th - SNOW grounded out to ss. RAMIREZ singled.
ANDERSON pinch ran for RAMIREZ. ANDERSON stole second. URINCHO struck out
swinging. HOCH grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 6th - PHILLIPS singled. KELLER struck out swinging.
DAVENPORT singled, advanced to second on an error by lf; PHILLIPS advanced to
third. DECKER pinch ran for DAVENPORT. HEMINGWAY struck out swinging, out at
first c to 1b. HOFFMAN grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 2
LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 6th - DAVENPORT to 3b for DECKER. QUIOCHO singled.
GONZALES grounded out to p, SAC, bunt; QUIOCHO advanced to second. NIX-CLARK
grounded out to 2b; QUIOCHO advanced to third. WHITELEY singled, RBI; QUIOCHO
scored. NORTON reached on an error by 3b; WHITELEY advanced to second. SNOW hit
by pitch; NORTON advanced to second; WHITELEY advanced to third. DYER to p for
CANNON. RAMIREZ to dp for ANDERSON. RAMIREZ walked, RBI; SNOW advanced to
second; NORTON advanced to third; WHITELEY scored, unearned. RAMIREZ advanced
to second on a passed ball; SNOW advanced to third on a passed ball; NORTON
scored on a passed ball, unearned. RAMIREZ advanced to third on a passed ball;
SNOW scored on a passed ball, unearned. 4 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.

PROVO -- BYU (29-16, 8-2) looks to improve on its nine-game winning streak at home with games against Southern Utah (20-27) and archrival University of Utah (21-20-1, 2-8).

The Cougars have a chance to break the school's all-time winning streak record of 12 set in 2003. Another major milestone on the horizon is the team's home run record. As a team BYU has hit 65 homers this season, just three shy of tying the 68 hit by the 2005 squad. Even though these achievements are within grasp, BYU head coach Gordon Eakin says his team chooses not to focus on seizing them.

"We don't pay attention to any of that," Eakin said. "We just try to stay focused on one pitch at a time, one game at a time, one win at a time."

Not escaping Eakin is the fact that the Cougars stand atop the Mountain West Conference standings with an 8-2 record. With 10 more league games to go, the Cougars' head coach says they can't afford to get lax.

"This year there's a lot of parity in our conference," Eakin said. "I don't think there's any margin of error. There are a number of teams that can get hot and win the conference. This is as competitive a year as I've ever seen, so there's no room for error."

BYU hosts Southern Utah in a double-header that begins at 3 p.m. (MST) and 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Friday, the Cougars face Utah at 6 p.m. on CSTV and again at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Those who attend Friday night's game against the Utes will be treated to a fireworks display right after the game. Fans are encouraged to come out not only to support the Cougars, but also to help break the all-time attendance record of 879 at Gail Miller Field. Anyone who attended last Friday's game against New Mexico and brings his or her ticket stub will get into this Friday's game for free.