Irish Win Home Opener, 1 - 0

South Bend, Ind. (April 1, 2002)--Southpaw Jeff Stone threw 71 pitches and went the nine-inning distance Monday, but BYU lost 1-0 to Notre Dame in its home opener.

After 22 games on the road, the Fighting Irish also got a complete game from J.P. Gagne to improve their record to 13-10. Stone baffled Notre Dame, throwing 41 strikes in matching temperature on the thermometer, but the Irish scored on a wild pitch.

The Cougars, now 11-16-1, managed three hits in the game which lasted one hour and 39 minutes, all for extra bases.

Dave Jensen had a lead-off double in the second inning to extend his team leading hitting streak to 12 games. Teammate Matt Carson had a one-out double in the fourth and Lars Birkeland had a two-out triple in the eighth.

Batters were retired in order for BYU in the first, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. Stone got the Irish out in order in the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

The lone run came in the third when designated hitter Mike Holba hit a one-out double, advance to third on a ground-out to Stone by the next batter and scored off a wild pitch. Holba, who stands 6-8 and weighs 240, had not played in any of the Irish games this season.

Gagne, who threw 108 pitches, struck out seven Cougars. Stone scattered five hits as each team stranded three on the bases. The senior left also picked off a base-runner in the first inning.

BYU turned a double play when Holba grounded out to shortstop Ranger Wiens in the sixth.

The two teams are scheduled to play again Tuesday evening at Frank Eck Stadium. The Cougars are tied for first in the Mountain West Conference with San Diego State at 5-3 and host Utah in a three-game series which begins Thursday evening.

Brigham Young Univ. at Univ. of Notre Dame
            Apr 01, 2002 at Notre Dame, Indiana (Frank Eck Stadium)
Brigham Young Univ. 0 (11-16-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  4  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   0
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  4  0  0  0   0  0  2  2   0
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
JENSEN, Dave 1b..........  3  0  1  0   0  0 11  0   0
ITRI, Rob 3b.............  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  2   1
BILLS, Kevin dh..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
CHAMBERS, Ryan cf........  3  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   1
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  1   0
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  3  0  0  0   0  1  2  5   1
STONE, Jeff p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 30  0  3  0   0  7 24 12   3
Univ. of Notre Dame 1 (13-10)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Ken Meyer lf.............  4  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
S. Stanley cf............  3  0  1  0   0  0  3  0   0
S. Sollmann 2b...........  2  0  1  0   1  0  0  1   0
Paul O'Toole c...........  3  0  0  0   0  0  7  0   2
A. Bushey 3b.............  3  0  0  0   0  0  2  2   1
J. Sanchez ss............  3  0  1  0   0  0  3  1   0
K. Billmaier rf..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Mike Holba dh............  3  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
Joe Thaman 1b............  3  0  0  0   0  0  9  0   0
J.P. Gagne p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 27  1  5  0   1  1 27  6   3
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 000 000 -  0  3  0
Univ. of Notre Dame. 001 000 00X -  1  5  0
-------------------------------------------
DP - Cougars 1. LOB - Cougars 3; Irish 3. 2B - CARSON M.(8); JENSEN(13);
Mike Holba(1). 3B - BIRKELAND(1).
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STONE, Jeff.........  8.0  5  1  1  1  1 27 28
Univ. of Notre Dame    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
J.P. Gagne..........  9.0  3  0  0  0  7 30 30
Win - J.P. Gagne (2-2).  Loss - STONE (0-5).  Save - None.
WP - STONE(2).
Start: 1 PM   Time: 1:39