Seven Home Runs Cap Finale

SALT LAKE CITY -- Records flew along with seven home runs in Salt Lake City as Utah defeated BYU 11-6 on Saturday.

Nate Weese's 47th and 48th career home runs set a new Utah career home run record and helped push Utah a half game past BYU in the Mountain West Conference standings. Weese's two home runs were part of a record setting seven dingers in one game between two MWC teams.

Utah climbs back into second place in the MWC with a league record of 14-13 and a season record of 30-23. BYU falls to third place with a conference record of 13-13 and a season record of 22-27-1.

Sixteen of the 27 hits for BYU and Utah were for extra bases. With 59 total bases on the day, the Cougars and Utes hit for a combined slugging percentage of .786.

BYU set the stage for the slug-fest in the top of the third inning. After Matt Carson doubled in Dave Jensen, Rob Itri cleared the bases with a home run to right field, making the score 3-1 for the Cougars.

Weese hit his first home run of the game to lead off the fourth and brought the Utes to within one. Adam Castleton followed with a double down the left field line, moved up to third on a single by Mike Westfall and scored on a sac-fly by Jake Jordison, tying the game at three.

Doug Jackson put the Cougars ahead in the sixth. After a double by Lars Birkelands, Jackson hit his fourth home run of the season.

But the momentum continued to swing, and the Utes scored every inning for the rest of the game. Casteleton hit a solo home run in the sixth, followed by two more runs off of a Westfall double and a triple by Donald Hawes.

Down 6-5, BYU brought in James Ray for starting pitcher Paul Jacinto. Left-handed Ray forced switch-hitting Castleton to hit right handed and faced left-handed hitters Donnie Saba and Weese. But Castleton led off with a triple to center, followed by back-to-back home runs by Saba and Weese to put Utah up 9-5.

Jordison led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to right, and Hawes walked to set up an RBI double by Brett Baldwin.

Jensen scored on an Itri single in the top of the ninth, but the scoring stopped there.

Utah senior Mitch Maio recorded his ninth win and moved back into the league lead, topping Cougar Jeff Mousser's eight wins. Jacinton recieved the loss and falls to 2-4.

BYU next takes on New Mexico in a three-game set starting on Thursday at 7:00 in Provo. The games will be played at Larry H. Miller Field and can be heard locally on KOVO 960 AM with Brent Norton calling the play-by-play.

BYU at University of Utah
                May 11, 2002 at Salt Lake City (Franklin Covey)
BYU 6 (22-27-1,13-13 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A 
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON lf...............  5  1  3  2   0  0  4  0   
COUGHLAN 2b..............  5  0  0  0   0  4  0  3   
JENSEN 1b................  4  2  2  0   1  0  8  0   
CARSON M. rf.............  5  1  1  1   0  1  2  0   
ITRI 3b..................  4  1  2  3   1  0  2  0   
WIENS ss.................  4  0  1  0   1  1  3  2   
BILLS dh.................  5  0  1  0   0  3  0  0   
BIRKELAND c..............  4  0  2  0   0  0  2  0   
CHAMBERS cf..............  3  1  1  0   1  0  3  0   
JACINTO p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   
 RAY p...................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0 
 DABO p..................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0  
Totals................... 39  6 13  6   4  9 24  6   
University of Utah 11 (30-23, 14-13 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A 
------------------------------------------------------
CIARAMELLA, MATT cf......  5  1  2  1   0  0  3  0   
SABA, Donnie lf..........  5  1  1  2   0  1  1  0   
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  4  2  2  2   1  0  9  0   
PANNIER, Brit rf.........  5  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  3  2  2  2   0  0  0  1   
WESTFALL, Mike 3b........  4  1  2  0   0  0  2  2   
JORDISON, J dh...........  3  2  2  3   0  0  0  0   
HAWES, Donald c..........  3  1  1  1   1  0  9  0   
BALDWIN, Brett ss........  4  0  1  0   0  1  3  3   
MAIO, Mitch p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   
 MARTINEZ, B p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   
 WESTMORELAND p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   
 SNYDER, J p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   
Totals................... 36 11 14 11   2  2 27  9  
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 003 002 001 -  6 13  0
University of Utah.. 010 203 32  - 11 14  1
-------------------------------------------
E - HAWES, D.
LOB - BYU 10; Utah 5. 
2B - CARSON, M; BIRKELAND; CHAMBERS; CIARAMELLA; PANNIER; CASTLETON; WESTFALL. 
3B - CIARAMELLA; HAWES, N. 
HR - JACKSON; ITRI; SABA; WEESE, 2; CASTELTON; JORDISON. 
SF - CASTLETON; JORDISON. SB - JASKSON 2; JENSEN; ITRI; WIENS.
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
JACINTO.............  5.2  9  6  6  0  1 24 26
RAY.................  0.1  3  3  3  0  1  4  4
DABO................  2.0  2  2  2  2  0  8 10
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MAIO................  6.0 10  5  5  2  5 28 30 
MATINEZ, B..........  1.0  1  0  0  2  2  4  6
WESTMORELAND........  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1
SNYDER, J...........  1.2  2  1  1  0  2  6  6
Win - MAIO (9-1).  Loss - JACINTO (2-3).  Save - SNYDER, J (5).
WP - JACINTO; MATINEZ. BK - SNYDER, J.
Umpires - HP: Blake Jensen  1B: Dan Perugini  3B: John Deluca
Start: 12:05   Time: 3:05   Attendance: 467
Game notes:
Game three of three-game series.