Final Home Series

A new attendance record will be set this week when BYU baseball hosts New Mexico in the regular season finale.

The Cougars, now 22-27-1 overall, are in a third-place tie with the Air Force Academy at 13-13 in the Mountain West Conference. A sweep over UNM's Lobos could vault BYU into second place, given the right scenario in Utah's games at AFA this week.

BYU is a half-game behind second-place Utah as all teams ready to come to Provo next weekend for the MWC Championships. San Diego State locked up the No. 1 seed over the weekend with the regular season title, but everyone will be looking for the NCAA automatic berth that comes in winning the tournament.

Already BYU is ahead of pace in fans attending games at Miller Park. There have been 20,579 fans in 13 games at Larry H. Miller Field thus far for an average of 1,583 compared to 17,378 in 14 games for an average of 1,241 last year when BYU had the 38th best average in the NCAA last season and ranked 50th in terms of total home attendance as the MWC Champions. The Cougars have a 7-6 record at home thus far this season.

First, the Cougars must take care of business with the Lobos, who bring a 21-31 overall mark and a 10-17 league record to Provo. On Thursday BYU will throw its ace Jeff Mousser (8-4, 4.89) on the mound for the game which starts at 7 p.m. Coach Vance Law is uncertain on his starter for Friday's game also at 7 p.m. On Saturday the Cougars are scheduled to have Paul Jacinto (2-3, 7.06) as the starting pitcher for the game which begins at 1 p.m.

"We need to be playing our best baseball in order to sweep," said Law, "but that is the kind of baseball you want to be playing at the end of the season. Even if things don't work out for us this weekend, it may not matter for the seeding. There is so much parity in our league it doesn't make much difference.

"If we have any hope of playing in the NCAA post-season, we are going to have to win our tournament next week the same way we want to perform this week. We are playing well offensively, but have made some bad plays at times on defense."

Individual baseball game prices at Miller Park are $5 for public and $3 for students, faculty, staff and senior citizens. For groups of 15 or more, there is a special rate of $2 per person. For reserved tickets, phone 801 378-BYU1. All-sport and Cougar Cards must be shown at the ticket office on the game day and redeemed for a reserved seat, based on availability. Tickets are on sale at the ticket office on the north side of Miller Park. VIP and All-Session passes are on sale now for the MWC Tournament at the above number or on the Internet at www.byutickets.com. Individual tournament session passes go on sale on May 15.

The games will be broadcast live locally over KOVO Radio (960 AM). Fans can also read the live webcast of the BYU-UNM games at Game One, Game Two and Game Three.