Utes Gain Upset in 10 Innings

SAN DIEGO -- Nine times the lead changed hands Thursday afternoon as nine home runs were hit between rivals BYU and Utah, with the Utes winning in 10 innings to stay alive in round two of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, 15-14.

Utah, now 27-27, got a 10th-inning single from Britt Pannier to drive in Sam Swenson for the game-winning run in the upset over top-seeded BYU at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Swenson's single helped score pinch-runner Donald Hawes to tie the game at 14-all.

The Cougars, now 35-20, face the prospects of a doubleheader on Friday, playing UNLV at 11 a.m. Friday, and if BYU wins, then facing New Mexico at 7 p.m., on Friday. Utah, meanwhile, plays San Diego State at 3 p.m., on Friday.

"This was one of the hardest fought games I've seen in a long time," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "This is why I don't like a conference tournament. We all played well and I thought Seth King's home run was going to be the clincher, but Utah always had an answer all afternoon."

King's eighth-inning solo gave BYU a 13-9 lead which seemed insurmountable on the heels of reliever Justin Su'a striking out the side in the seventh. But a pair of two-run homers by Chris Shelton and Mike Westfall in the eighth tied the game.

It was Shelton's second dinger of the game and his 18th of the season, passing BYU's Matt Carson for the league homer lead. Carson didn't suit up for the game as he was prone with a back injury on a gurney in the crowd behind BYU's first base dugout.

On two other occasions late in the game it appeared BYU had the lead for good. First, when Michael Davies belted a three-run homer in the seventh to give BYU a 12-9 lead. And lastly, when Kainoa Obrey knocked a 2-0 pitch over the 360-mark in left center to give the Cougars a 14-13 lead in the top of the 10th.

Obrey's homer forced Utah to turn to pitcher Jason Wylie, its last seasoned starter in an effort to stay alive. Winning pitcher Wylie, now 5-3, struck out Davies, who was looking for a single to complete the cycle, with two out and Cougars on the corners.

Another Cougar one hit away from the cycle was Doug Jackson, lacking a homer. He almost turned his triple into a homer in the sixth when left fielder Donnie Saba dove for a shallow fly. Saba, writhing in pain on the ground, backhanded a throw to third as Jackson's hit gave BYU a 7-6 lead.

The game was full of unique twists and turns. For the second day in a row, Saba led off the game with a solo homer. Pannier's lead-off second-inning homer gave Utah a 2-0 margin.

Davies led off with a triple in the third and scored off Jackson's two-run double. Designated hitter Jeff Hiestand, batting third in place of Carson, drove in Jackson to give BYU its first lead at 3-2. Shelton's first two-run blast in the third put Utah back on top, 4-3.

Hiestand's lead-off homer in the fifth chased first-team All-MWC Ryan Bailey from the mound as BYU took a 6-5 lead. BYU's starter Jeff Mousser had to leave the game after Swenson hit Utah's third consecutive single. Then Pannier loaded the bases with his sun-single to right field, something he had fallen victim to defensively on Wednesday in the same position.

Utah had an 8-6 lead after the fifth. But BYU took a 9-8 lead in the seventh when King doubled in Michael Wirrick. Then Davies hit his crushing homer and Su'a struck out the side. Su'a appeared headed toward his fourth victory of the season in the eighth with one out until Shelton, the MWC Player of the Year, belted his second homer.

Even in the ninth, momentum seemed to swing BYU's way when lefty James Ray came in to face Nate Weese and struck him out to end the inning. Then Law turned to six-foot-eight reliever Jake Chrisman to try and preserve the lead after Obrey's homer. Chrisman hit lead-off batter Shelton, setting up the final singles by Swenson and Pannier in the marathon three-hour, twenty-three-minute game which began with Utah winning the coin flip for the home-team.

The Automated ScoreBook
                   Brigham Young Univ. at University of Utah
                       May 17, 2001 at San Diego, Calif.
Brigham Young Univ. 14 (35-20)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  6  2  3  4   0  2  0  0   0
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  6  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   1
HIESTAND, Jeff dh........  4  1  1  3   0  0  0  0   1
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  6  1  2  1   0  0  0  1   1
WIRRICK, Michael rf......  2  1  0  0   2  0  2  0   1
KING, Seth ss............  6  2  2  2   0  0  1  3   0
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  3  2  1  0   0  0  6  0   0
 LAW, Tim ph/1b..........  2  0  2  0   0  0  3  0   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  6  3  3  3   0  2 11  0   5
COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b.....  3  2  2  1   1  1  1  4   0
MOUSSER, Jeff p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 ADAMS, Ryan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 SU'A, Justin p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 RAY, James p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 CHRISMAN, Jake p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 44 14 16 14   3  6 27  9   9
University of Utah 15 (27-27)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SABA, Donnie lf..........  6  1  2  1   0  3  3  0   4
CASTLETON, Adam 2b.......  4  3  1  0   1  0  3  1   0
WEESE, Nate 1b...........  6  1  2  1   0  1  7  1   1
SHELTON, Chris c.........  5  3  3  4   0  0  5  2   0
 HAWES, Donald pr........  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
SWENSON, Sam cf..........  6  2  2  1   0  2  7  0   1
PANNIER, Brit rf.........  5  2  4  2   1  0  3  0   0
WESTFALL, Mike 3b........  3  2  1  3   0  0  1  3   2
MAESTAS, Tommy ss........  5  0  2  1   0  1  0  3   0
FRANCE, Josh dh..........  4  0  0  0   1  3  0  0   0
BAILEY, Ryan p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 LEWIS, Jon p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 McAFEE, Matt p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MAIO, Mitch p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 WYLIE, Jason p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 44 15 17 13   3 10 30 11   9
Score by Innings                      R  H  E
---------------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 003 212 410 1 - 14 16  5
University of Utah.. 112 131 040 2 - 15 17  3
---------------------------------------------
Note: None out, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.
E - JACKSON; BELLISTON; OBREY; KING; MOUSSER; WESTFALL; BAILEY; WYLIE. DP -
Cougars 1. LOB - Cougars 9; Utes 9. 2B - JACKSON; KING; DAVIES; CASTLETON;
WEESE. 3B - JACKSON; DAVIES. HR - HIESTAND(7); OBREY(13); KING(9);
DAVIES(5); SABA(9); SHELTON 2(18); PANNIER(10); WESTFALL(9). HBP - HIESTAND;
WIRRICK 2; CASTLETON; SHELTON; WESTFALL. SH - HAGUEWOOD. SF - HIESTAND;
COUGHLAN; WESTFALL. SB - WIRRICK; COUGHLAN. CS - WIRRICK.
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MOUSSER, Jeff.......  4.1  7  8  7  1  5 21 23
ADAMS, Ryan.........  1.0  3  1  1  2  0  6 10
SU'A, Justin........  3.1  5  4  4  0  4 14 14
RAY, James..........  0.1  0  0  0  0  1  1  1
CHRISMAN, Jake......  0.0  2  2  1  0  0  2  3
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
BAILEY, Ryan........  4.0  7  6  6  1  1 17 21
LEWIS, Jon..........  1.0  2  2  2  0  0  6  7
McAFEE, Matt........  1.0  2  4  4  1  0  4  7
MAIO, Mitch.........  3.1  4  2  2  1  4 14 15
WYLIE, Jason........  0.2  1  0  0  0  1  3  3
Win - WYLIE (5-3).  Loss - CHRISMAN (0-2).  Save - None.
WP - RAY. HB - MOUSSER; ADAMS; CHRISMAN; BAILEY 2; LEWIS. BK - MOUSSER. PB -SHELTON.
Umpires - Home:Joe Burleson  1st:Dan Pederson  2nd:Dan Perugini  3rd:Jim Garman
Start: 2:59   Time: 3:23   Attendance: 208
Game notes:
MWC Tournament Game #5
BAILEY faced 1 batter in the 5th.
LEWIS faced 2 batters in the 6th.
McAFEE faced 4 batters in the 7th.