Perfect Relay Prevents Win

PROVO -- After spotting nine runs to New Mexico on Saturday afternoon, BYU's baseball team came back twice to tie the game it ended up losing 17-13 in 10 innings.

The loss kept BYU in third place in the Mountain West Conference standings, meaning the Cougars will host the Air Force Academy at 7 p.m., in the final game of the MWC Tournament opening round which begins Wednesday in Provo.

For the Cougars, now 24-28-1 overall and 15-14 in the MWC, the focus came on the final play of the ninth inning against the Lobos. With the score tied at 13-all, Dave Jensen hit a two-out double to right field and Cameron Coughlan tried to score.

The Lobos got a good bounce off the wall and converted a perfect 9-4-2 relay from reserve outfielder Matt Young to second baseman Troy Cairns. Cairns threw out the Cougar speedster at the plate as substitute catcher Scott Tajima applied the tag.

"I still think it was the right play to send Cameron (Coughlan)," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "If the ball doesn't bounce and they don't make a perfect relay, we win."

That play forced extra innings and UNM scored four runs in the 10th to set up its victory. Lobo left-fielder Todd Stroud got a one-out double and scored off Cairns' single to centerfield. Cairns scored two plays later when Chris Alexander's hit up the middle resulted in a two-base fielding error.

Alexander had been a thorn in the Cougars' side throughout the series, adding a two-run homer in the second inning to the pair of dingers he belted Friday evening. Alexander, who now has 18 homers, gave UNM a 9-0 lead in the second inning with his blast to left field.

After Alexander's homer, reliever Scott Koffman settled down and got BYU back in the game through his pitching and defense. In the fourth inning Koffman dove to his knees to throw out Cairns, then struck out the next two batters, including a swinging Alexander.

UNM took a 10-6 lead in the fifth inning when Joe Salas led off with a solo homer, but Koffman battled back with a fine back-hand toss to throw out a Lobo at first.

BYU rallied behind Koffman to the tune of four runs in the sixth to tie the score at 10-10. Coughlan's high two-run poke over the right-field fence was followed immediately by Jensen's solo homer which stayed fair of the right foul pole. Two plays later, Rob Itri tied the game with a solo homer again to right field, bringing most of the 1,221 fans at Larry H. Miller Field to their feet with applause.

After Cougar reliever Jake Chrisman cruised in order through his only inning in the seventh, UNM got to lefty reliever James Ray. The Lobos got RBI singles from Stroud, Cairns and Josh Mader to take a 13-10 advantage.

BYU tied the score in the ninth beginning with Lars Birkeland double down the left-field line to score Ranger Wiens. Pinch-hitter Ryan Chambers knocked in Jake Stubblefield with a sacrifice fly and Birkland scored off Doug Jackson's single to left.

"I was hoping we could make a comeback," said Law. "We battled back and that shows a lot of character. It's a tough game to lose, but it is encouraging how we came back."

The Lobos, now 22-33 overall and 11-19, open the MWC Tourney on Wednesday at Miller Park when they meet top-seeded San Diego State at 11 a.m. Tickets for the tourney can be obtained at www.byutickets.com or by calling 1-800-322-BYU1.

New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ.
               May 18, 2002 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
New Mexico 17 (22-33,11-19 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Young, Matt dh/rf........  5  2  1  0   1  0  0  1   2
Young, Dusty ss..........  4  1  0  0   1  2  4  5   1
Stroud, Todd lf..........  4  3  2  1   2  0  2  0   0
Cairns, Troy 2b..........  6  3  4  3   0  0  4  7   0
Mader, Josh 3b...........  5  1  2  2   0  1  1  1   1
Alexander, Chris 1b......  6  3  3  5   0  1  7  1   2
Salas, Joe rf/p..........  4  1  2  2   0  1  2  0   0
 Lovato, Anthony dh......  0  1  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
Lizarraga, Cory cf.......  5  1  1  1   1  0  3  0   0
Grady, Jeff c............  4  0  2  2   0  0  6  0   0
 Svetlic, Mike pr........  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Tajima, Scott pr/c......  2  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
Gross, Kris p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 DeYapp, Jeremy p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Mason, Kyle p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 McCready, Derek p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Frye, Ben p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 45 17 17 16   6  5 30 16   7
Brigham Young Univ. 13 (24-28-1,15-14 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug cf.........  6  3  4  2   0  0  4  0   0
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  5  1  3  3   1  0  2  3   0
JENSEN, Dave 1b..........  6  1  3  3   0  1 15  0   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  5  0  1  0   1  2  1  0   2
ITRI, Rob 3b.............  6  2  3  1   0  0  1  3   3
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  5  2  2  0   0  1  1  3   0
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake dh....  5  2  3  1   0  0  0  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  5  2  2  1   0  0  4  2   0
YI, Han lf...............  4  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   2
 CHAMBERS, Ryan ph/lf....  0  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
JACINTO, Paul p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 KOFFMAN, Scott p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 CHRISMAN, Jacob p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 RAY, James p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 DABO, Tyler p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 47 13 21 12   2  6 30 13   8
Score by Innings                      R  H  E
---------------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 630 010 030 4 - 17 17  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 031 114 003 0 - 13 21  5
---------------------------------------------
E - Salas; JACKSON; COUGHLAN; CARSON M.; ITRI; YI. DP - UNM 3. LOB - UNM 7;
BYU Cougars 8. 2B - Stroud; Grady; JENSEN; STUBBLEFIELD; BIRKELAND. 3B -
JACKSON. HR - Alexander, C(18); Salas(5); COUGHLAN(4); JENSEN(10); ITRI(4).
HBP - Young, D.; WIENS. SF - Mader; Salas; CHAMBERS. SB - Grady. CS - Mader.
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Gross, Kris.........  5.0 11  6  5  1  3 25 27
DeYapp, Jeremy......  0.0  3  3  3  0  0  3  3
Mason, Kyle.........  2.0  1  1  1  0  3  7  7
Salas, Joe..........  1.0  0  0  0  1  0  3  4
McCready, Derek.....  1.0  5  3  3  0  0  6  7
Frye, Ben...........  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  3  3
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
JACINTO, Paul.......  0.2  4  6  6  3  0  4  9
KOFFMAN, Scott......  5.1  4  4  4  1  3 21 23
CHRISMAN, Jacob.....  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  3  3
RAY, James..........  0.1  2  3  3  1  1  3  4
DABO, Tyler.........  2.2  7  4  3  1  0 14 15
Win - McCready (3-3).  Loss - DABO (2-1).  Save - Frye (1).
WP - JACINTO 2. HBP - by Gross (WIENS); by KOFFMAN (Young, D.).
Umpires - HP: Jim Paronto  1B: Joe Burleson  3B: Mik Hendrickson
Start: 1:05   Time: 3:15   Attendance: 1229
Game notes:
Game 3 of 3 in Provo.
DeYapp faced 3 batters in the 6th.