Doubleheader Sweep Sets Up Championship

SAN DIEGO -- After sweeping a split doubleheader on Friday with a 12-7 victory over New Mexico in the nightcap and a 10-9 win earlier in the day over UNLV, BYU is in the championship game.

The Cougars, now 37-20, play the winner of Saturday afternoon's San Diego State-UNM game in the championship game at 7 p.m. PDT. BYU ace Nate Fernley, 15-2, is scheduled to pitch for the second time in the tourney.

That championship berth was set up by BYU winning as the home team over UNM behind the relief pitching of Ryan Adams and stepped up play of reserves Michael Wirrick and Tim Law playing in place of an injured Matt Carson.

"Adams' pitching was one of the guttiest performances I've seen after he had such a lousy outing yesterday," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "He pitched well and saved our bullpen for the championship."

Adams, who improved his record to 6-2, picked up his first victory since he broke his had almost two months ago. He entered the UNM game in the third inning with the Cougars leading 4-3 in the third inning. But the Lobos had two men aboard with no outs.

Adams recorded the first putout off a sac-bunt, then started a 1-3-6-2 putout off a delayed double steal.

The Cougars had dug a deep hole, falling behind 3-0 for the second time of the day, again in the first inning.

Seth King's two-run double down the right field line tied the game at six-all with two out. Then Tim Law singled in King for the Cougars to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning.

A balk by UNM reliever Kim Gross in the sixth scored Cameron Coughlan to give BYU an 8-7 advantage and the lead it would never lose.

Law started a 3-6-1 double play in the top of the seventh, with Adams alertly covering first base to snuff out the Lobos that inning. Two insurance runs came in the eighth when Wirrick belted a two-run homer to right field.

Earlier in the day, Jeff Stone may not have picked up his 27th victory in his BYU career, but his alert fourth-inning double play turned the tide in the Cougars' 10-9 victory over UNLV on Friday morning.

With men on the corners and no outs, UNLV's John Cruz bunted a low pop fly to Stone who dropped the ball. Stone, the pitcher, then turned and threw to King at second and King relayed home to nail a surprised Ryan Ruiz.

"I heard a collective gasp from the fans, but we had practiced this many times and then they realized they had seen a big-league play," said Coach Law. Law had seen the play work once sitting on the bench early in his major league career when the Pirates were playing the Padres.

"I knew exactly what Jeff was doing on that play," said King. "I'm happy we got out of that situation and shut them down without letting that run score."

Had that run scored, UNLV would have taken at least a 5-3 lead. As it was, there were two outs with a Rebel on first and the inning soon ended following the double play which Law called the turning point of the game.

The Cougars gave up three runs off as many errors in the first inning as the visiting team against UNLV. BYU had at least one runner on base every inning and finally drove three runs across in the top of the fourth.

Those runs came with two out when Ty Haguewood hit a two-run single up the middle. Then three batters later, five-foot-seven Doug Jackson drew a walk with the bases loaded to score the third run.

BYU didn't grab its first lead of the game until the sixth inning when Jeff Hiestand and Kainoa Obrey grounded out consecutively to short to score Jackson and Shane Belliston, giving a 7-5 advantage.

Stone gave way to Scott Koffman in the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Lars Birkeland laced a two-run homer to left field to give BYU a 9-5 lead. UNLV rallied back in the bottom of that inning with a three-run homer by Brad Beasley to tie the game at nine-all.

In the eighth, Belliston led off with a single up the middle, advanced to second on a pinch-hit sac bunt by Coughlan and scored off Obreyís right field double down the line.

"They kept coming at me with curve balls, but left a fastball on the outside corner," said Obrey. "I went with it and it stayed in."

That double knocked Belliston home with the game-winning run. Then Koffman buckled down.

"I was trying to throw ground-ball pitches and let my teammates back me up and it worked," said Koffman. "My change-up was my best pitch today."

Koffman improved to 3-1 and made it so BYU could play unbeaten New Mexico.

The Automated ScoreBook
                    New Mexico Lobos at Brigham Young Univ.
                 May 18, 2001 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
New Mexico Lobos 7 (26-33)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
CAIRNS 2b................  5  1  2  0   0  1  0  3   1
STANLEY 3b...............  5  1  2  1   0  0  0  1   1
LOVATO dh................  3  3  1  0   1  0  0  0   1
SEVIERI lf...............  3  2  2  0   2  0  0  0   0
OKANO cf.................  2  0  0  2   1  0  5  0   0
SALAS rf.................  4  0  3  4   0  0  5  0   0
ALEXANDER, C 1b..........  4  0  0  0   0  0 10  0   3
TAJIMA c.................  4  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   0
YOUNG, DU ss.............  4  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0
ATENCIO p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 GROSS p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 SEMPREVIVO p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  7 10  7   4  1 24  8   6
Brigham Young Univ. 12 (37-20)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  5  2  2  2   0  0  3  0   1
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  5  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   2
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  3  1  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
 HAGUEWOOD, Ty ph........  0  1  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  1  2  1   1  0  0  4   0
WIRRICK, Michael rf......  5  2  3  4   0  0  2  0   1
KING, Seth ss............  5  1  1  2   0  0  2  6   2
LAW, Tim 1b..............  4  2  3  1   0  0 12  2   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  5  1  1  0   0  0  2  0   2
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  4  1  2  1   0  1  3  2   0
STEARMAN, Jeff p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 ADAMS, Ryan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 40 12 14 11   3  3 27 16   8
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico Lobos.... 301 021 000 -  7 10  2
Brigham Young Univ.. 004 032 12X - 12 14  1
-------------------------------------------
E - CAIRNS; OKANO; WIRRICK. DP - Cougars 2. LOB - UNM 6; Cougars 8. 2B -
CAIRNS; STANLEY; LOVATO; JACKSON; WIRRICK; KING. 3B - CAIRNS; LAW; COUGHLAN.
HR - WIRRICK(4). HBP - LOVATO; LAW. SH - OKANO. SB - STANLEY; LOVATO;
JACKSON. CS - SEVIERI.
New Mexico Lobos       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
ATENCIO.............  5.0  7  7  7  2  1 23 26
GROSS...............  1.2  4  3  2  0  1 10 10
SEMPREVIVO..........  1.1  3  2  2  1  1  7  8
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STEARMAN, Jeff......  2.0  3  4  4  4  0  8 13
ADAMS, Ryan.........  7.0  7  3  3  0  1 26 27
Win - ADAMS (6-2).  Loss - GROSS (2-5).  Save - None.
HB - ATENCIO; STEARMAN. BK - ATENCIO; GROSS.
Umpires - Home:Ray Belfiore  1st:Joe Burleson  2nd:Dale Luker  3rd:Dan Perugini
Start: 7:08   Time: 2:45   Attendance: 203
Game notes:
Game 9 of MWC Tournament
STEARMAN faced 2 batters in the 3rd.
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                          Brigham Young Univ. at UNLV
                 May 18, 2001 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
Brigham Young Univ. 10 (36-20)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  2  1  0  1   2  0  1  0   0
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  5  2  1  0   0  1  3  0   4
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  4  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
 COUGHLAN, Cameron ph....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  5  0  3  2   0  0  0  1   0
WIRRICK, Michael rf......  4  1  0  0   1  1  4  1   0
KING, Seth ss............  5  1  2  0   0  0  3  7   1
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  3  2  1  2   1  0  6  0   3
 LAW, Tim 1b.............  1  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  4  2  3  2   1  1  5  1   0
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  4  1  2  0   1  1  1  3   0
STONE, Jeff p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 KOFFMAN, Scott p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 37 10 13  8   6  4 27 14   8
UNLV 9 (23-33)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SHITANISHI, Garett 2b....  5  1  1  0   0  1  1  3   1
JACOBITZ, Joe lf.........  5  1  2  2   0  1  0  0   1
JOHNSON, Brent 3b........  5  1  2  0   0  0  0  1   0
KITSCH, Trent dh.........  4  3  2  0   1  1  0  0   0
TRUJILLO, David 1b.......  5  1  3  1   0  0 13  0   0
BEASLEY, Brad c..........  3  1  2  5   0  0  5  2   0
HERTEL, Brad rf..........  4  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
 FLETCHER, George ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
RUIZ, Ryan ss............  3  1  3  0   1  0  3  6   0
CRUZ, John cf............  3  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   3
HALL, Cortney p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 THORNTON, Doug p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 HARRIS, Chad p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 MALOFF, Brad p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 MARUFFI, Joe p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 38  9 16  8   2  3 27 15   7
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 000 304 210 - 10 13  5
UNLV................ 301 011 300 -  9 16  1
-------------------------------------------
E - OBREY; WIRRICK; KING; STONE 2; TRUJILLO. DP - Cougars 3; Rebels 1. LOB -
Cougars 8; Rebels 7. 2B - OBREY 2; KING; PERRY; JACOBITZ; KITSCH; RUIZ. HR -
BIRKELAND(3); BEASLEY(8). HBP - JACKSON. SH - COUGHLAN; CRUZ. SF - BEASLEY
2. CS - JACKSON; LAW; JACOBITZ.
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STONE, Jeff.........  5.2 12  6  5  1  2 25 29
KOFFMAN, Scott......  3.1  4  3  3  1  1 13 14
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HALL, Cortney.......  5.0  8  5  4  5  2 22 27
THORNTON, Doug......  2.0  2  4  3  1  1  8 10
HARRIS, Chad........  0.1  2  1  1  0  0  2  3
MALOFF, Brad........  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  2  2
MARUFFI, Joe........  1.0  1  0  0  0  1  3  3
Win - KOFFMAN (3-1).  Loss - HARRIS (0-1).  Save - None.
WP - STONE 2. HB - THORNTON.
Umpires - Home:Dan Pedersen  1st:Ray Belfiore  2nd:Jim Garman  3rd:Dale Luker
Start: 10:58   Time: 2:52   Attendance: 162
HALL faced 2 batters in the 6th.