T-Birds Thump Cougars, 10-4

Cedar City, Utah (April 8, 2002)--Absent Matt Carson and half of the Cougar pitchers, BYU dropped a 10-4 loss Monday afternoon to Southern Utah University.

Carson, a pre-season All-American, remained in Provo because of a problem with his left hand, while several teammates caught up on school and sat out the non-conference games in preparation for this weekend's three-game series at New Mexico. Nevertheless, SUU caught the Cougars off guard with a four-run sixth inning to break open a 3-2 game.

The Cougars, now 13-18-1, actually got off to a good start by taking the lead in the first inning. Cameron Coughlan beat out a double play attempt and advance to third on a errant throw by Kelcey Kemp. Coughlan then stole third, his 16th steal of the season, and scored on Dave Jensen's sacrifice fly.

"We actually had decent at bats and hit the ball really well, but it was always at people," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "We walked too many batters (seven), but Southern Utah's record doesn't indicate how good of team they are."

SUU, now 5-21, took the lead in the sixth when they chased Sam Fernley from the mound.

"Sam pitched well, but gave up a double," said Law, who then elected to go with senior southpaw Jeff Stone.

Lead-off batter Ryan Duvall got that double off Fernley, then Jake Reynolds was the next batter up and promptly doubled in Duvall. A bases loaded walk was followed by a two-run single from James Anderson to give the Thunderbirds a 7-2 lead by the time the sixth ended.

Duvall also did damage to BYU defensively from his centerfield position, catching two of Lars Birkeland's shots, including one at the wall. Birkeland continues to lead BYU with a six-game hitting streak, but was the victim of Reynolds snagging a shot on the left-field line.

And if the news couldn't get any worse, it did, as BYU freshman centerfielder Ryan Chambers pulled a hamstring and appears to be out for a while.

The Cougars are scheduled to start senior Ryan Adams, 2-4, 8.15, on Tuesday afternoon as he attempts to rebound from a rocky start last Friday in the 17-3 loss to Utah. Against SUU on Monday, the Cougars continued their pace of hitting nine singles on the heels of hitting 21 singles last Saturday against Utah. The only extra base hit for BYU was a double by freshman Ryan Thurgood who replaced Chambers at right field.

Rob Itri led all Cougars with three hits and Jensen recorded a pair of RBI. Kemp hit his first collegiate homer in the seventh and Aaron Lancaster also hit a solo homer for the T-Birds in the fifth.

Brigham Young at Southern Utah Univ.
          Apr 08, 2002 at Cedar City, Utah (Thunderbird Park)
Brigham Young 4 (13-18-1)
Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A
JACKSON, Doug cf..........  5  0  2  1    0  0  2  0 
COUGHLAN, Cameron lf......  5  1  0  0    0  0  1  0 
JENSEN, Dave 1b...........  3  0  1  2    0  0 10  1 
ITRI, Rob 3b..............  4  0  3  0    0  0  1  2 
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake dh.....  4  0  0  0    0  1  0  0 
CHAMBERS, Ryan rf.........  2  0  0  0    0  0  1  0 
 THURGOOD, Ryan rf......... 2  1  1  0    0  0  0  0 
WIENS, Ranger ss..........  4  0  0  0    0  0  1  3 
BIRKELAND, Lars c.........  3  1  1  1    0  0  5  0 
YI, Han 2b................  4  1  2  0    0  0  2  2 
FERNLEY, Sam p............  0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0 
 STONE, Jeff p............. 0  0  0  0    0  0  1  1 
Totals.................... 36  4 10  4    0  1 24  9 
Southern Utah Univ. 10 (5-21)
Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A
Duvall, Ryan cf...........  5  1  1  0    0  2  2  0 
Reynolds, Jake lf.........  4  1  2  2    1  0  3  0 
Nelson, Chris c...........  5  0  2  0    0  0  2  0 
Lancaster, Aaron 1b.......  4  2  1  1    1  1 11  2 
Ball, Bryan rf............  4  2  2  0    1  1  2  0 
Ford, Tom dh..............  3  2  1  2    2  0  0  0 
Anderson, James 3b........  4  0  1  2    1  0  0  1 
Wilkerson, McKay ss.......  4  1  0  0    1  0  4  1 
Kemp, Kelcey 2b...........  5  1  3  3    0  1  1  9 
Perkins, Shane p..........  0  0  0  0    0  0  2  0 
 Anderson, Caleb p......... 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  1 
Totals.................... 38 10 13 10    7  5 27 14 
Score by innings:                      R  H  E
----------------------------------------------
Brigham Young         100 001 101   -  4 10  1
Southern Utah Univ.   010 114 12    - 10 13  2
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E - WIENS; Wilkerson; Kemp. 
LOB - BYU 7; So. Utah 12. 
2B - THURGOOD; Duvall; Reynolds; Ball; Ford. 
HR - Lancaster(5); Kemp(1). 
SB - COUGHLAN. 
SF - JENSEN; BIRKELAND. 
Brigham Young          IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF
FERNLEY, Sam........  5.1   6   4   4   4   4  23 28 
STONE, Jeff.........  2.2   7   6   6   3   1  15 18 
Southern Utah Univ.    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF
Perkins, Shane......  8.2  10   4   3   0   1  35 37 
Anderson, Caleb.....  0.1   0   0   0   0   0   1  1 
Win - Perkins 3-3.  Loss - FERNLEY 0-1.  Save - None.
WP - FERNLEY 2. PB - BIRKELAND. 
HBP - by FERNLEY (Duvall). 
Umpires - Home:Al White  1st:Chad Vader  
Start: 3:00 pm   Time: 2:35   Attendance: 133