Carson's Cyle Pumps Cougars

Provo (May 17, 2002)--Matt Carson hit for the cycle to lift BYU to a 12-5 victory over New Mexico Friday night before the sixth-largest crowd at Larry H. Miller Field.

The junior right-fielder hit an ugly double in the fourth, an RBI single in the fifth, a two-run homer over left field in the sixth off the first pitch, and a triple that bounced back in off the railing in the eighth.

"It was the first cycle I've hit in my life," said Carson, who was cheered by most of the 1,831 fans and congratulated by BYU Coach Vance Law when he arrived at third base in the eighth.

"It (the cycle) doesn't come around often and I was really excited for Matt," said Law.

Carson's homer which scored Doug Jackson, was his first this season at Miller Park, his ninth of the year, and ended up being the game-winning RBI.

"The home run was the best feeling I've had this year," said Carson. "My single may have been the hardest to come by because I was 0-2 and they jammed me, but I got a good hop. I knew it was a weak double. When I hit my triple I started jogging because I thought it was out, but whenever I do that it never goes over and I saw it rolling back in."

That wasn't the first triple which rolled back in during the night. Jackson hit a lead-off triple which bounced off the right field fence and ended up giving BYU a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

UNM grabbed its only lead of the night in the fourth when Matt Alexander hit the first pitch thrown him to tie the score and Matt Young's double drove in Scott Tajima to put the Lobos on top, 2-1. Alexander hit his 17th homer of the year and second in the game. His second dinger was a lead-off solo in the sixth which bounced off the left-field scoreboard which reflected an 8-3 Cougar lead.

That lead started in the fourth when Carson's double to right field came on the heels of Dave Jensen's alert base-running which earned him a lead-off double.

"Jensen's 54-foot-hopper up the middle was a key play," said Law. "He made the turn on his own and was one of a couple plays that demonstrated our hustle tonight."

Carson's double extended his team-leading hitting streak to 11 games. With no outs, Rob Itri looped a single to left-center to score Jensen and Carson to begin a four-run rally which secured a 5-2 lead.

In the fifth, Carson was hit by a pitch that skimmed the top of his helmet, then ricocheted off his bat and was ruled a foul-tip by a conference of three umpires. Carson ended up singling in Cameron Coughlan and that caused the removal of starting pitcher Matthew Bullen.

After six innings, Cougar starter Ryan Adams left the game with a 10-3 lead and evened his record a 5-5.

"This is the kind of game I dream about," said Law. "Even our outs were hit hard. These kind of things really pump up a team. Our speed was evident tonight. I've always said, 'speed never goes into a slump.' We are playing really solid right now."

The Cougars improve to 24-27-1 overall and 15-13 in the Mountain West Conference. UNM falls to 21-33 and 10-19.

The victory keeps BYU a half-game behind second-place Utah as the Cougars play the final home game of the regular season on Saturday against the Lobos at 1 p.m., before hosting the MWC Tournament next week.

Carson's cycle was the sixth in recent BYU history, last accomplished by Spencer Oborn who did it twice in 1998 on consecutive days against the Air Force Academy.

New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ.
               May 17, 2002 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
New Mexico 5 (21-33,10-19 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Young, Matt cf...........  3  0  0  0   2  0  5  0   0
Young, Dusty ss..........  5  1  3  1   0  0  1  3   0
Stroud, Todd lf..........  5  1  2  0   0  0  2  0   2
Cairns, Troy 2b..........  4  0  0  0   1  0  1  5   1
Lovato, Anthony dh.......  4  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   3
 Murray, Sean ph.........  0  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
Mader, Josh 3b...........  5  0  0  0   0  1  1  2   1
Alexander, Chris 1b......  4  2  3  2   0  0  9  1   0
Salas, Joe rf............  3  0  1  0   1  0  1  0   0
Tajima, Scott c..........  4  1  1  0   0  0  3  1   3
Bullen, Matthew p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 Smith, Aaron p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Svetlic, Mike p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 37  5 11  4   4  1 24 13  10
Brigham Young Univ. 12 (24-27-1,15-13 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug cf.........  5  2  2  0   0  0  0  0   1
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  5  1  1  1   0  0  1  3   3
JENSEN, Dave 1b..........  4  2  2  0   0  1 10  1   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  5  4  4  3   0  0  5  0   0
ITRI, Rob 3b.............  4  1  2  3   0  0  0  1   0
 BILLS, Kevin ph/3b......  1  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  3  1  1  0   0  0  4  6   0
 THURGOOD, Ryan ph/ss....  2  1  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake dh....  2  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
 WEINGARTEN, Mike ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  4  0  2  2   0  0  1  0   0
YI, Han lf...............  4  0  2  1   0  0  5  0   2
ADAMS, Ryan p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 WARD, Matt p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 STONE, Jeff p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 40 12 17 12   0  3 27 12   6
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 000 201 002 -  5 11  0
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 432 11X - 12 17  1
-------------------------------------------
E - ITRI. DP - BYU Cougars 1. LOB - UNM 10; BYU Cougars 6. 2B - Alexander,
C; Tajima; JACKSON; JENSEN 2; CARSON M.; WIENS; YI. 3B - JACKSON; CARSON M..
HR - Alexander, C 2(17); CARSON M.(9). HBP - JENSEN; WEINGARTEN. SF -
Murray.
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Bullen, Matthew.....  4.0 10  8  8  0  0 21 22
Smith, Aaron........  3.0  6  3  3  0  1 15 16
Svetlic, Mike.......  1.0  1  1  1  0  2  4  4
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
ADAMS, Ryan.........  6.0  8  3  3  3  0 25 28
WARD, Matt..........  2.0  1  0  0  0  1  8  8
STONE, Jeff.........  1.0  2  2  2  1  0  4  6
Win - ADAMS (5-5).  Loss - Bullen (2-7).  Save - None.
WP - Bullen; STONE. HBP - by Bullen (JENSEN); by Smith (WEINGARTEN).
Umpires - HP: Mik Hendrickson  1B: Jim Paronto  3B: Joe Burleson
Start: 7:03   Time: 2:22   Attendance: 1831
Game notes:
This was game 2 of 3 with UNM in Provo
Bullen faced 3 batters in the 5th.