Fernley, Wirrick Lead to Defeat of SDSU

PROVO -- First place in baseball's league race became tied after BYU defeated San Diego State, 15-9, at Larry H. Miller field.

Behind the gutty pitching of Nate Fernley, now 12-2, the Cougars tied the Aztecs in the conference standings at 15-7. Fernley, the nation's winningest hurler, threw 124 pitches in eight innings, but made the plays when needed as he gave up eight unearned runs.

The Cougars spotted SDSU four runs in the first inning when Pilar Amaya hit a grand slam home run. BYU rebounded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, led by Michael Wirrick's two-run single.

Wirrick led all Cougars with a four-of-four effort from the plate with as many RBI. He knocked in a run in the second when BYU took a 6-4 lead and he had another RBI single in the seventh. Matt Carson gave BYU its first lead at 5-4 in the second when he singled in Doug Jackson.

SDSU, voted pre-season favorite in the Mountain West Conference, took a 7-6 lead in the third when Cody Haven singled in Amaya. The Cougars regained the lead for good in the fourth when Seth King doubled in Kainoa Obrey.

"When Seth (King) is swinging the bat, he does it as well as anyone in the country," said BYU Coach Vance Law. It was King's first game back after an absence of six contests due to a broken finger.

After King drew a second-inning walk, SDSU removed its pitching ace, Marcos Mendoza, the national pitcher of the week, who was shelled for eight hits.

Meanwhile, Fernley was battling and turned in a defensive gem in the fifth inning when Amaya lined a shot which took off his glove, but Nate recoiled and threw him out at first. Another defensive diamond came when Jackson crashed into the left field wall and caught Brian Manfred's fly to end the fifth.

"Fernley has a lot of baseball savvy," said Law. He didn't know where the ball was at first on that play. He wasn't as sharp as we've seen him, but he competes so well and it gives a lot of confidence to his teammates. He gave us some solid innings and our team believes in him."

In the bottom of the fifth BYU scored it's game-winning run when lead-off batter Tyler Perry was hit by John Skinner's pitch. Jackson then singled to left field and rounded first, causing a cutoff overthrow which scored Perry.

Game temperature was 83 degrees and dipped only to 76 on the thermometer by the end of the Cougar victory before 1,059 fans. BYU improves to 27-17 overall, while SDSU is 27-18 going into Friday's rematch at 6 p.m. Saturday's game at 1 p.m. Will be televised live by KBYU and byutv.

The remaining games will also be broadcast live by KSRR Radio (1400 AM) locally and over the Internet at

goaztecs.fansonly.com/sports/m basebl/sdsu-m-basebl-sched.html.

The Automated ScoreBook
                     San Diego State at Brigham Young Univ.
               Apr 26, 2001 at Provo, Utah (Larry H.Miller Field)
San Diego State 9 (27-18,15-7 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
LEE, Taber ss............  5  2  2  0   0  0  2  2   0
LITTERAL, Andy lf........  3  3  2  0   1  0  2  0   0
COTA, Carlo 2b...........  4  0  1  0   0  0  3  4   0
PIERCE, Sean rf..........  5  0  1  1   0  1  1  0   4
BOWLES, Darrell dh.......  3  2  2  1   2  0  0  0   0
 SHORTELL, Rory pr.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
AMAYA, Pilar 3b..........  5  2  2  5   0  0  1  5   0
HAVEN, Cody 1b...........  5  0  1  1   0  4  8  0   2
MANFRED, Brian c.........  3  0  0  0   1  0  6  0   2
MITCHELL, Rah-Miel cf....  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  0   0
MENDOZA, Marcos p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 SKINNER, John p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 MINTER, Jon p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FIEDLER, Erik p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 37  9 12  8   4  6 24 11   7
Brigham Young Univ. 15 (27-17,15-7 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  5  2  3  1   0  0  3  0   0
BELLISTON, Shane cf......  5  2  2  0   0  0  2  0   2
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  3  3  3   0  0  5  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  2  2  0   1  1  0  1   0
WIRRICK, Michael dh......  4  1  4  4   1  0  0  0   0
KING, Seth ss............  4  3  2  2   1  0  1  0   0
 HALES, Brad ss..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 LAW, Tim 1b.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  4  1  2  2   1  1  4  3   3
BIRKELAND, Lars c........  5  0  1  1   0  1  7  3   3
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  4  1  0  0   0  2  2  2   1
FERNLEY, Nate p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0
 WARD, Matt p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39 15 19 13   4  5 27 13   9
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
San Diego State..... 403 001 001 -  9 12  3
Brigham Young Univ.. 420 222 30X - 15 19  3
-------------------------------------------
E - LEE; COTA; MITCHELL; JACKSON; PERRY; FERNLEY. DP - SDSU 1. LOB - SDSU 7;
Cougars 9. 2B - AMAYA; KING 2. 3B - BELLISTON. HR - AMAYA(4). HBP -
LITTERAL; JACKSON; PERRY. SH - COTA; BELLISTON. SF - CARSON 2. SB - JACKSON;
CARSON; HAGUEWOOD. CS - LEE.
San Diego State        IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MENDOZA, Marcos.....  1.2  8  6  6  2  3 13 15
SKINNER, John.......  4.1  9  8  6  2  1 19 25
MINTER, Jon.........  1.0  2  1  1  0  1  5  5
FIEDLER, Erik.......  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  2  3
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
FERNLEY, Nate.......  8.0 10  8  0  4  5 32 37
WARD, Matt..........  1.0  2  1  1  0  1  5  6
Win - FERNLEY (12-2).  Loss - SKINNER (3-3).  Save - None.
WP - MENDOZA. HB - SKINNER; FIEDLER; WARD. BK - MINTER, Jon.
Umpires - Home:Joe Burleson  1st:Dan Perugini  3rd:Mik Hendrickson
Start: 5:59   Time: 3:03   Attendance: 1059
Game: BY44
Game notes:
Game temperature is 83 degrees, game one of three
Fernley remains the winningest pitcher in the country
SKINNER faced 2 batters in the 7th.