Wiens and Mousser Lift BYU Past Utah, 19-4

SALT LAKE CITY -- Ranger Wiens hit two homers and pitcher Jeff Mousser went six innings as BYU downed Utah 19-4 on Thursday afternoon.

BYU scored in every inning except the second, taking a one-and-a-half game lead over the Utes for second place in the Mountain West Conference. The Cougars climb to 13-11 in conference, 22-25-1 overall. Utah falls to 12-13 in the MWC and 28-23 overall.

"This is the right time for the team to get hot," said Wiens. "We're trying to go into the Mountain West on a high note."

The Utes and Cougars came into tonight's game only a half game apart in the MWC. The team that comes out on top will likely finish second in the conference and be seeded opposite league-leading San Diego State in the MWC Tournament on May 22-25 at Larry H. Miller Field in Provo.

BYU scored 19 runs on 22 hits and batted .478 as a team while only allowing four runs on 14 Utah hits.

Cougar lead-off hitter Doug Jackson was the first to cross the plate. After reaching first on a base hit, Jackson stole second and reached third on a throwing error by Ute catcher Donald Hawes. Dave Jensen hit a sacrifice fly to pick up the RBI and score Jackson.

Utah battled back. With Matt Ciaramella on second base after a base hit and an overthrown pickoff attempt, Nate Weese brought him in with a triple off the right field wall. Weese scored on a sacrifice fly by Brit Pannier.

BYU found the perfect position to break the game open in the second, but fell victim to an unusual 8-6-2 triple play. With the bases loaded, Lars Birkeland hit a line drive to center field. Ciaramella made the play, and found Wiens off the bag at second base. After doubling Wiens up, Ute shortstop Brett Baldwin saw Rob Itri trying to score from third and threw him out at the plate, making the second inning the only inning that BYU didn't score.

"Usually when you squander a chance like that you never get it back," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "It looked like it was going to be a sinking line drive, but Lars (Birkeland) hit it well and it got out there."

But after Mousser held the Utes scoreless in the second, the Cougar offense found their chance. With runners on first and third, first baseman Dave Jensen hit what he thought was going to be his second sacrifice fly for an RBI of the night. But Cheyenne Rushton was called for a balk, scoring Jackson from third, putting Cameron Coughlan on second and allowing Jensen another chance at bat. Jensen walked, and Matt Carson singled, bringing in Coughlan. Itri followed with a two-RBI single up the middle.

Mousser held Utah to one run in the bottom of the third, but faced seven batters in the inning. Weese singled and stole second to start the inning. Pannier followed with another single. With runners on the corners, Mousser got Adam Castleton to line out and struck out Mike Westfall. Mike Basham scored Weese on a single to left field.

With the score 5-3 going into the fourth, Birkeland singled and stole second base. Jackson, who went 3-for-5 on the night, hit an RBI double to left center. Coughlan singled to left to score Jackson and stole second. Carson hit Coughlan in to put the Cougars up 8-3.

Utah scored its last run in the fourth on a Pannier double down the right field line. But Mousser settled in.

"He had a tough time with his control," Law said. "But after the fourth he started to settle in."

Mousser didn't give up a hit in the next two innings and only allowed one base runner before handing the ball over to fellow sophomore Sam Fernley in the sixth inning. Mousser gave up 10 hits and four runs with three stike outs in six innings.

"After the sixth inning (Mousser) got up over 100 pitches," Law said. "I'm not the biggest guy on pitch count, but it seemed like a good time to come in with Fernley."

Fernley followed with three innings of shutout baseball, giving up just four hits, no walks and striking out one.

Wiens and the offense took over after the fourth. Wiens went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Birkeland, Jackson and Carson all ended up with three hits, and Itri finished with three RBI.

"It all comes down to confidence for us," Wiens said. "You get a little confidence and the ball starts leaving the yard."

BYU next takes the field against Utah at noon on Friday. The game will be at Franklin-Covey Field in Salt Lake City and can be heard locally on KOVO 960 AM with Brent Norton doing the play-by-play.

Box score (NCAA)
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                           BYU at University of Utah
                May 09, 2002 at Salt Lake City (Franklin Covey)
BYU 19 (22-25-1,13-11 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON lf...............  5  3  3  2   0  0  3  0   1
 YI ph/lf................  2  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   2
COUGHLAN 2b..............  6  3  2  1   0  1  2  1   0
JENSEN 1b................  4  3  1  2   1  0  6  1   1
CARSON M. rf.............  5  3  3  2   1  0  0  0   0
ITRI 3b..................  4  0  2  3   0  0  3  1   1
 THURGOOD 3b.............  1  1  1  2   0  0  0  1   0
WIENS ss.................  4  2  3  3   1  1  4  3   0
STUBBLEFIELD dh..........  4  0  1  1   1  2  0  0   3
BIRKELAND c..............  6  2  3  0   0  0  4  1   1
CHAMBERS cf..............  5  1  2  1   1  1  3  0   0
MOUSSER p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FERNLEY p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   0
Totals................... 46 19 22 17   5  5 27  9   9
University of Utah 4 (28-23,12-13 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
CIARAMELLA, MATT cf......  4  2  3  0   1  0  4  1   0
SABA, Donnie lf..........  5  0  1  0   0  1  5  0   1
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  4  2  3  1   0  0  6  1   0
PANNIER, Brit rf.........  4  0  2  2   0  0  0  0   2
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  3  0  0  0   1  0  4  3   0
WESTFALL, Mike 3b........  4  0  2  0   0  1  0  1   3
 BIESINGER, Brandon 3b...  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
BASHAM, Mike dh..........  5  0  2  1   0  2  0  0   2
HAWES, Donald c..........  5  0  0  0   0  0  6  0   3
BALDWIN, Brett ss........  4  0  1  0   0  0  1  4   2
RUSHTON, Cheyenne p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 OVERHOLT, Sean p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 OWEN, Dan p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 SIMONSEN, Dan p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39  4 14  4   2  4 27 10  13
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 104 311 126 - 19 22  2
University of Utah.. 201 100 000 -  4 14  4
-------------------------------------------
E - ITRI; MOUSSER; BIESINGER, B; HAWES, D; BALDWIN, B 2. DP - BYU 1; Utah 1.
TP - Utah 1. LOB - BYU 9; Utah 13. 2B - JACKSON; JENSEN; ITRI; PANNIER, B.
3B - JACKSON; WEESE, N. HR - WIENS 2. HBP - WIENS; WEESE, N; CASTLETON, A.
SF - JENSEN; ITRI; STUBBLEFIELD; PANNIER, B. SB - JACKSON; COUGHLAN;
BIRKELAND; WEESE, N. CS - BALDWIN, B.
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MOUSSER.............  6.0 10  4  4  2  3 26 31
FERNLEY.............  3.0  4  0  0  0  1 13 13
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
RUSHTON, Cheyenne...  3.2 10  8  7  2  3 18 21
OVERHOLT, Sean......  4.1  6  5  5  2  2 19 23
OWEN, Dan...........  0.0  3  5  2  0  0  5  5
SIMONSEN, Dan.......  1.0  3  1  0  1  0  4  6
Win - MOUSSER (8-4).  Loss - RUSHTON, C (7-5).  Save - None.
WP - MOUSSER; OVERHOLT, S. HBP - by MOUSSER (CASTLETON, A); by OVERHOLT, S
(WIENS); by MOUSSER (WEESE, N). BK - RUSHTON, C; OVERHOLT, S; OWEN, D.